Ezekiel 9-12

Ezekiel 9

¹Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

²Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

³The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side.

⁴Yahweh said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst.

⁵To the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike: don't let your eye spare, neither have pity;

⁶kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don't come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house.

⁷He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth! They went forth, and struck in the city.

⁸It happened, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell on my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?

⁹Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn't see.

¹⁰As for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.

¹¹Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.

Ezekiel 10

¹Then I looked, and see, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

²He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling [wheels], even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. He went in as I watched.

³Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

⁴The glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, [and stood] over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh's glory.

⁵The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel.

⁷The cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took [of it], and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings.

⁹I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.

¹⁰As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel.

¹¹When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn't turn as they went.

¹²Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, [even] the wheels that the four of them had.

¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling [wheels].

¹⁴Every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵The cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn't turn from beside them.

¹⁷When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

¹⁸The glory of Yahweh went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.

¹⁹The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²⁰This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim.

²¹Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

²²As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.

Ezekiel 11

¹Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh's house, which looks eastward: and see, at the door of the gate twenty-five men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

²He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;

³who say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man.

⁵The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

⁶You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the flesh, and this [city] is the caldron; but you shall be brought forth out of its midst.

⁸You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you, says the Lord Yahweh.

⁹I will bring you forth out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

¹⁰You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

¹¹This [city] shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel;

¹²and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither have you executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you.

¹³It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

¹⁴The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁵Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, [are they] to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession.

¹⁶Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come.

¹⁷Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

¹⁸They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations from there.

¹⁹I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;

²⁰that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²¹But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

²²Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²³The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

²⁴The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

²⁵Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.

Ezekiel 12

¹The word of Yahweh also came to me, saying,

²Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don't see, who have ears to hear, and don't hear; for they are a rebellious house.

³Therefore, you son of man, prepare your stuff for moving, and move by day in their sight; and you shall move from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

⁴You shall bring forth your stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for moving; and you shall go forth yourself at even in their sight, as when men go forth into exile.

⁵Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your stuff out that way.

⁶In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulder, and carry it forth in the dark; you shall cover your face, so that you don't see the land: for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.

⁷I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for removing, and in the even I dug through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the dark, and bore it on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸In the morning came the word of Yahweh to me, saying,

⁹Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, What are you doing?

¹⁰Say to them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This burden [concerns] the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are.

¹¹Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done to them; they shall go into exile, into captivity.

¹²The prince who is among them shall bear on his shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, because he shall not see the land with his eyes.

¹³My net also will I spread on him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

¹⁴I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵They shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries.

¹⁶But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁷Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁸Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness;

¹⁹and tell the people of the land, Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, [and despoiled] of all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein.

²⁰The cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

²¹The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

²²Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?

²³Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but tell them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.

²⁴For there shall be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

²⁵For I am Yahweh; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall be performed; it shall be no more deferred: for in your days, rebellious house, will I speak the word, and will perform it, says the Lord Yahweh.

²⁶Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

²⁷Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many day to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off.

²⁸Therefore tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: None of my words shall be deferred any more, but the word which I shall speak shall be performed, says the Lord Yahweh.