Ezekiel Chapter 8

Ezekiel 8 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting at home, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, and there the hand of the Sovereign G OD fell upon me.
2. 2As I looked, there was a figure that had the appearance of fire: from what appeared as the loins down, [there was] fire; and from the loins up, the appearance was resplendent and had the color of amber.
3. 3The form of a hand stretched out, and took me by the hair of my head. A spirit lifted me up between heaven and earth and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the Penimith Gate that faces north; that was the site of the infuriating image that provokes fury.
4. 4And the Presence of the God of Israel appeared there, like the vision that I had seen in the valley.
5. 5And I was told, “O mortal, turn your eyes northward.” I turned my eyes northward, and there, north of the gate of the altar, was that infuriating image on the approach.
6. 6And [God] said to me, “Mortal, do you see what they are doing, the terrible abominations that the House of Israel is practicing here, to drive Me far from My Sanctuary? You shall yet see even greater abominations!”
7. 7Then [God] brought me to the entrance of the court; and I looked, and there was a hole in the wall.
8. 8I was told, “Mortal, break through the wall”; so I broke through the wall and found an entrance.
9. 9And I was told, “Enter and see the vile abominations that they are practicing here.”
10. 10I entered and looked, and there all detestable forms of creeping things and beasts and all the fetishes of the House of Israel were depicted over the entire wall.
11. 11Before them stood seventy of the elders of the House of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst. Everyone had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense smoke ascended.
12. 12Again [God] spoke to me, “O mortal, have you seen what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the darkness, everyone in his image-covered chamber? For they say, ‘G OD does not see us; G OD has abandoned the country.’”
13. 13And [God]said to me, “You shall see even more terrible abominations that they practice.”
14. 14Next [God] brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the House of G OD ; and there sat the women bewailing Tammuz.
15. 15I was told, “Have you seen, O mortal? You shall see even more terrible abominations than these.”
16. 16Then [God] brought me into the inner court of the House of G OD , and there, at the entrance to the Temple of G OD , between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men, their backs to the Temple of G OD and their faces to the east; they were bowing low to the sun in the east.
17. 17And I was told, “Do you see, O mortal? Is it not enough for the House of Judah to practice the abominations that they have committed here, that they must fill the country with lawlessness and provoke Me still further and thrust the branch to their nostrils?
18. 18I in turn will act with fury, I will show no pity or compassion; though they cry aloud to Me, I will not listen to them.”

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