Ezekiel 8

1 In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the fifth month, I was sitting in my house with Judah’s elders before me when the Lord’s hand came on me. 2 I looked and saw the likeness of a man. From his waist down he was like fire, and from his waist up he looked like amber. 3 He stretched out something like a hand and took me by the hair on my head. The Spirit lifted me between earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision from God. He set me at the porch of the inner gate that faces north, where the pillar of the Purchaser stood. [a] 4 The glory of the Lord God of Israel was there, like the vision I had seen on the plain. 5 He told me, 5 “Son of man, lift your eyes toward the north.” 5 So I lifted my eyes northward and looked from the north toward the east gate. 6 He asked me, 6 “Son of man, have you seen what they are doing? They commit great lawless deeds here, keeping far away from my holy place. Yet you will see even greater lawless deeds.” 7 He brought me to the court’s porch. 8 He told me, 8 “Son of man, dig.” 8 So I dug and found a door. 9 He told me, 9 “Go in and see the lawless deeds they practice here.” 10 I entered and looked. I saw empty detestable things and every idol of the house of Israel portrayed all around the walls. 11 Seventy elders of the house of Israel stood before them, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan among them. Each man held a censer, and a cloud of incense rose. 12 He asked me, 12 “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do, each in his hidden chamber? They say, ‘The Lord does not see. The Lord has abandoned the land.’” 13 He told me, 13 “You will see even greater lawless deeds that they commit.” 14 He brought me to the porch of the gate of the Lord’s temple that faces north. Women were sitting there lamenting for Tammuz. 15 He told me, 15 “Son of man, you have seen this, but you will see practices even worse than these.” 16 He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s temple. At the temple entrance, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty men with their backs toward the Lord’s temple and their faces turned away. They were bowing down to the sun. 17 He asked me, 17 “Son of man, have you seen this? Is it a small thing for the house of Judah to commit the lawless deeds they have done here? They have filled the land with lawlessness. Look, they are like people who mock.” [b] 18 “Therefore I will deal with them in wrath. My eye will not spare, and I will show no mercy.”