Ezekiel 8

¹In 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 .

²Then I looked , and behold , a form that had the appearance of a man . Below what appeared to be his waist was fire , and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness , like gleaming metal .

³He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head , and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem , to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north , where was the seat of the image of jealousy , which provokes to jealousy .

⁴And behold , the glory of the God of Israel was there , like the vision that I saw in the valley .

⁵Then he said to me, Son of man , lift up your eyes now toward the north . So I lifted up my eyes toward the north , and behold , north of the altar gate , in the entrance , was this image of jealousy .

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

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

⁸Then he said to me, Son of man , dig in the wall . So I dug in the wall , and behold , there was an entrance .

⁹And he said to me, Go in , and see the vile abominations that they are committing here .

¹⁰So I went in and saw . And there , engraved on the wall all around , was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts , and all the idols of the house of Israel .

¹¹And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel , with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand , and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up .

¹²Then he said to me, Son of man , have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark , each in his room of pictures ? For they say , The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land .

¹³He said also to me, You will see still greater abominations that they commit .

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

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

¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold , at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch 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 .

¹⁷Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man ? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here , that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger ? Behold , they put the branch to their nose .

¹⁸Therefore I will act in wrath . My eye will not spare , nor will I have pity . And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice , I will not hear them.