CHAPTER 8
In the sixth
year,
in the sixth month,
on the fifth
day,
I
was sitting
in my house,
and the elders
of Judah
were sitting
before me;
and there
the hand
of the Lord
GOD
fell
upon me.
Then I looked
and saw
a figure
like that of a man.
From what appeared to be
His waist
down
was fire,
and from His waist
up
his appearance
was as bright
as the gleam
of amber.
He stretched out
what looked like
a hand
and took
me by the hair
of my head.
Then the Spirit
lifted me up
between
earth
and heaven
and carried
me in visions
of God
to Jerusalem,
to
the entrance
of the north
gate
of the inner court,
where
the idol
that provokes
jealousy
was located.
“Son
of man,”
He said
to me,
“now
lift up
your eyes
to
the north.”
So I lifted up
my eyes
to
the north,
and in the entrance
north
of the gate
of the altar
I saw
this
idol
of jealousy.
“Son
of man,”
He said
to me,
“do you
see
what they
are doing—
the great
abominations
that
the house
of Israel
is committing—
to drive Me far
from
My sanctuary?
Yet
you will see
even greater
abominations.”
“Son
of man,”
He told
me,
“dig
through the wall.”
So I dug
through the wall
and discovered
a doorway.
So I went in
and looked,
and
engraved
all around
the wall
was every
kind
of crawling creature
and detestable
beast,
along with all
the idols
of the house
of Israel.
Before them
stood
seventy
elders
of the house
of Israel,
with Jaazaniah
son
of Shaphan
standing
among them.
Each
had a censer
in his hand,
and a fragrant
cloud
of incense
was rising.
“Son
of man,”
He said
to me,
“do you see
what
the elders
of the house
of Israel
are doing
in the darkness,
each
at the shrine
of his own idol?
For
they are saying,
‘The LORD
does not
see
us;
the LORD
has forsaken
the land.'”
Then He brought
me to
the entrance
of the north
gate
of the house
of the LORD,
and I saw
women
sitting
there,
weeping
for Tammuz.
And He said
to me,
“Do you see
this, son
of man?
You will see
even greater
abominations
than these.”
So He brought
me to
the inner
court
of the house
of the LORD,
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;
and they
were bowing to the east
in worship
of the sun.
And He said
to me,
“Do you see this,
son
of man?
Is it not enough for the house
of Judah
to commit
the abominations
they are practicing
here,
that
they must also fill
the land
with violence
and continually
provoke Me to anger?
Look, they are even
putting
the branch
to
their nose!
Therefore
I
will respond
with wrath.
I will not
look on them
with pity
or spare them.
Although they shout
loudly
in My ears,
I will not
listen to them.”