The Holy Bible

[7:1] The Lord spoke to me.

[7:2] “Mortal man,” he said, “this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to the land of Israel: This is the end for the whole land!

[7:3] “Israel, the end has come. You will feel my anger, because I am judging you for what you have done. I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct.

[7:4] I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord.”

[7:5] This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “One disaster after another is coming on you.

[7:6] It's all over. This is the end. You are finished.

[7:7] The end is coming for you people who live in the land. The time is near when there will be no more celebrations at the mountain shrines, only confusion.

[7:8] “Very soon now you will feel all the force of my anger. I am judging you for what you have done, and I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct.

[7:9] I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord and that I am the one who punishes you.”

[7:10] The day of disaster is coming. Violence is flourishing. Pride is at its height.

[7:11] Violence produces more wickedness. Nothing of theirs will remain, nothing of their wealth, their splendor, or their glory.

[7:12] The time is coming. The day is near when buying and selling will have no more meaning, because God's punishment will fall on everyone alike.

[7:13] No merchants will live long enough to get back what they have lost, because God's anger is on everyone. Those who are evil cannot survive.

[7:14] The trumpet blows, and everyone gets ready. But no one goes off to war, for God's anger will fall on everyone alike.

[7:15] There is fighting in the streets, and sickness and hunger in the houses. Anyone who is out in the country will die in the fighting, and anyone in the city will be a victim of sickness and hunger.

[7:16] Some will escape to the mountains like doves frightened from the valleys. All of them will moan over their sins.

[7:17] Everyone's hands will be weak, and their knees will shake.

[7:18] They will put on sackcloth and they will tremble all over. Their heads will be shaved, and they will all be disgraced.

[7:19] They will throw their gold and silver away in the streets like garbage, because neither silver nor gold can save them when the Lord pours out his fury. They cannot use it to satisfy their desires or fill their stomachs. Gold and silver led them into sin.

[7:20] Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the Lord has made their wealth repulsive to them.

[7:21] “I will let foreigners rob them,” says the Lord, “and lawbreakers will take all their wealth and defile it.

[7:22] I will not interfere when my treasured Temple is profaned, when robbers break into it and defile it.

[7:23] “Everything is in confusion —the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence.

[7:24] I will bring the most evil nations here and let them have your homes. Your strongest men will lose their confidence when I let the nations profane the places where you worship.

[7:25] Despair is coming. You will look for peace and never find it.

[7:26] One disaster will follow another, and a steady stream of bad news will pour in. You will beg the prophets to reveal what they foresee. The priests will have nothing to teach the people, and the elders will have no advice to give.

[7:27] The king will mourn, the prince will give up hope, and the people will shake with fear. I will punish you for all you have done, and will judge you in the same way as you have judged others. This will show you that I am the Lord.”

[8:1] On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of our exile, the leaders of the exiles from Judah were sitting in my house with me. Suddenly the power of the Sovereign Lord came on me.

[8:2] I looked up and saw a vision of a fiery human form. From the waist down his body looked like fire, and from the waist up he was shining like polished bronze.

[8:3] He reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed me by the hair. Then in this vision God's spirit lifted me high in the air and took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the inner entrance of the north gate of the Temple, where there was an idol that was an outrage to God.

[8:4] There I saw the dazzling light that shows the presence of Israel's God, just as I had seen it when I was by the Chebar River.

[8:5] God said to me, “Mortal man, look toward the north.” I looked, and there near the altar by the entrance of the gateway I saw the idol that was an outrage to God.

[8:6] God said to me, “Mortal man, do you see what is happening? Look at the disgusting things the people of Israel are doing here, driving me farther and farther away from my holy place. You will see even more disgraceful things than this.”

[8:7] He took me to the entrance of the outer courtyard and showed me a hole in the wall.

[8:8] He said, “Mortal man, break through the wall here.” I broke through it and found a door.

[8:9] He told me, “Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there.”

[8:10] So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals, and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping.

[8:11] Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense.

[8:12] God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The Lord doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.’”

[8:13] Then the Lord said to me, “You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that.”

[8:14] So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.

[8:15] He asked, “Mortal man, do you see that? You will see even more disgusting things.”

[8:16] So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

[8:17] The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even more angry. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible!

[8:18] They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy. They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can, but I will not listen to them.”

[9:1] Then I heard God shout, “Come here, you men who are going to punish the city. Bring your weapons with you.”

[9:2] At once six men came from the outer north gate of the Temple, each one carrying a weapon. With them was a man dressed in linen clothes, carrying something to write with. They all came and stood by the bronze altar.

[9:3] Then the dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel rose up from the winged creatures where it had been, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. The Lord called to the man dressed in linen,

[9:4] “Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city.”

[9:5] And I heard God say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill. Spare no one; have mercy on no one.

[9:6] Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don't touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple.” So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple.

[9:7] God said to them, “Defile the Temple. Fill its courtyards with corpses. Get to work!” So they began to kill the people in the city.

[9:8] While the killing was going on, I was there alone. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “Sovereign Lord, are you so angry with Jerusalem that you are going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

[9:9] God answered, “The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the Lord, have abandoned their country and that I don't see them.

[9:10] But I will not have pity on them; I will do to them what they have done to others.”

[9:11] Then the man wearing linen clothes returned and reported to the Lord, “I have carried out your orders.”

[10:1] I looked at the dome over the heads of the living creatures and above them was something that seemed to be a throne made of sapphire.

[10:2] God said to the man wearing linen clothes, “Go between the wheels under the creatures and fill your hands with burning coals. Then scatter the coals over the city.” I watched him go.

[10:3] The creatures were standing to the south of the Temple when he went in, and a cloud filled the inner courtyard.

[10:4] The dazzling light of the Lord's presence rose up from the creatures and moved to the entrance of the Temple. Then the cloud filled the Temple, and the courtyard was blazing with the light.

[10:5] The noise made by the creatures' wings was heard even in the outer courtyard. It sounded like the voice of Almighty God.

[10:6] When the Lord commanded the man wearing linen clothes to take some fire from between the wheels that were under the creatures, the man went in and stood by one of the wheels.

[10:7] One of the creatures reached his hand into the fire that was there among them, picked up some coals, and put them in the hands of the man in linen. The man took the coals and left.

[10:8] I saw that each creature had what looked like a human hand under each of its wings.

[10:11] When the creatures moved, they could go in any direction without turning. They all moved together in the direction they wanted to go, without having to turn around.

[10:12] Their bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels were covered with eyes.

[10:13] I heard a voice calling out, “Whirling wheels.”

[10:14] Each creature had four faces. The first was the face of a bull, the second a human face, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

[10:15] (They were the same creatures that I had seen by the Chebar River.) When the creatures rose in the air

[10:16] and moved, the wheels went with them. Whenever they spread their wings to fly, the wheels still went with them.

[10:17] When the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; and when the creatures flew, the wheels went with them, because the creatures controlled them.

[10:18] Then the dazzling light of the Lord's presence left the entrance of the Temple and moved to a place above the creatures.

[10:19] They spread their wings and flew up from the earth while I was watching, and the wheels went with them. They paused at the east gate of the Temple, and the dazzling light was over them.

[10:20] I recognized them as the same creatures which I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Chebar River.

[10:21] Each of them had four faces, four wings, and what looked like a human hand under each wing.

[10:22] Their faces looked exactly like the faces I had seen by the Chebar River. Each creature moved straight ahead.

[11:1] God's spirit lifted me up and took me to the east gate of the Temple. There near the gate I saw twenty-five men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, two leaders of the nation.

[11:2] God said to me, “Mortal man, these men make evil plans and give bad advice in this city.

[11:3] They say, ‘We will soon be building houses again. The city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the meat in it, but at least it protects us from the fire.’

[11:4] Now then, denounce them, mortal man.”

[11:5] The spirit of the Lord took control of me, and the Lord told me to give the people this message: “People of Israel, I know what you are saying and what you are planning.

[11:6] You have murdered so many people here in the city that the streets are full of corpses.

[11:7] “So this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. This city is a cooking pot all right, but what is the meat? The corpses of those you have killed! You will not be here—I will throw you out of the city!

[11:8] Are you afraid of swords? I will bring soldiers with swords to attack you.

[11:9] I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners. I have sentenced you to death,

[11:10] and you will be killed in battle in your own country. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.

[11:11] This city will not protect you the way a pot protects the meat in it. I will punish you wherever you may be in the land of Israel.

[11:12] You will know that I am the Lord and that while you were keeping the laws of the neighboring nations, you were breaking my laws and disobeying my commands.”

[11:13] While I was prophesying, Pelatiah dropped dead. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “No, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

[11:14] The Lord spoke to me.

[11:15] “Mortal man,” he said, “the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and those of your nation who are in exile. They say, ‘The exiles are too far away to worship the Lord. He has given us possession of the land.’

[11:16] “Now tell your fellow exiles what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being I will be present with them in the lands where they have gone.

[11:17] “So tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. I will gather them out of the countries where I scattered them, and will give the land of Israel back to them.

[11:18] When they return, they are to get rid of all the filthy, disgusting idols they find.

[11:19] I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart.

[11:20] Then they will keep my laws and faithfully obey all my commands. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

[11:21] But I will punish the people who love to worship filthy, disgusting idols. I will punish them for what they have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

[11:22] The living creatures began to fly, and the wheels went with them. The dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel was over them.

[11:23] Then the dazzling light left the city and moved to the mountain east of it.

[11:24] In the vision the spirit of God lifted me up and brought me back to the exiles in Babylonia. Then the vision faded,

[11:25] and I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.

[12:1] The Lord spoke to me.

[12:2] “Mortal man,” he said, “you are living among rebellious people. They have eyes, but they see nothing; they have ears, but they hear nothing, because they are rebellious.

[12:3] “Now, mortal man, pack a bundle just as a refugee would and start out before nightfall. Let everyone see you leaving and going to another place. Maybe those rebels will notice you.

[12:4] While it is still daylight, pack your bundle for exile, so that they can see you, and then let them watch you leave in the evening as if you were going into exile.

[12:5] While they are watching, break a hole through the wall of your house and take your pack out through it.

[12:6] Let them watch you putting your pack on your shoulder and going out into the dark with your eyes covered, so that you can't see where you are going. What you do will be a warning to the Israelites.”

[12:7] I did what the Lord told me to do. That day I packed a bundle as a refugee would, and that evening as it was getting dark I dug a hole in the wall with my hands and went out. While everyone watched, I put the pack on my shoulder and left.

[12:8] The next morning the Lord spoke to me.

[12:9] “Mortal man,” he said, “now that those Israelite rebels are asking you what you're doing,

[12:10] tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them. This message is for the prince ruling in Jerusalem and for all the people who live there.

[12:11] Tell them that what you have done is a sign of what will happen to them—they will be refugees and captives.

[12:12] The prince who is ruling them will shoulder his pack in the dark and escape through a hole that they dig for him in the wall. He will cover his eyes and not see where he is going.

[12:13] But I will spread out my net and trap him in it. Then I will take him to the city of Babylon, where he will die without having seen it.

[12:14] I will scatter in every direction all the members of his court and his advisers and bodyguards, and people will search for them to kill them.

[12:15] “When I scatter them among the other nations and in foreign countries, they will know that I am the Lord.

[12:16] I will let a few of them survive the war, the famine, and the diseases, so that there among the nations they will realize how disgusting their actions have been and will acknowledge that I am the Lord.”

[12:17] The Lord spoke to me.

[12:18] “Mortal man,” he said, “tremble when you eat, and shake with fear when you drink.

[12:19] Tell the whole nation that this is the message of the Sovereign Lord to the people of Jerusalem who are still living in their land: They will tremble when they eat and shake with fear when they drink. Their land will be stripped bare, because everyone who lives there is lawless.

[12:20] Cities that are now full of people will be destroyed, and the country will be made a wilderness. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”