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Ezekiel 8

Abominations in the Temple

1 ^aIn the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month ^bas I sat in my house, with ^cthe elders of Judah sitting before me, ^dthe hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, ^ea form that had the appearance of a man. ^{▼

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By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew of fire} ^gBelow what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like ^hgleaming metal. ^{▼

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Or amber} 3 He ^jput out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up ^kbetween earth and heaven and ^lbrought me in ^mvisions of God to Jerusalem, ⁿto the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, ^owhere was the seat of the ^pimage of jealousy, ^qwhich provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, ^rthe glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw ^sin the valley.

5 Then he said to me, ^t“Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of ^uthe altar gate, in the entrance, was this ^vimage of jealousy. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, ^wdo you see what they are doing, ^xthe great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, ^yto drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, “Son of man, ^zdig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see ^aathe vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, ^abengraved on the wall all around, was ^acevery form of ^adcreeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood ^aeseventy men of ^afthe elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of ^agShaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and ^ahthe smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing ^aiin the dark, each ^ajin his room of pictures? For they say, ^ak‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, ^al“You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

14 Then he brought me to ^amthe entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O ^anson of man? ^aoYou will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 And he brought me into ^apthe inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, ^aqbetween the ^arporch and ^asthe altar, were about twenty-five men, ^atwith their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping ^authe sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O ^avson of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit ^awthe abominations that they commit here, that ^axthey should fill the land with violence and ^ayprovoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their ^{▼

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Or my} nose. 18 Therefore ^baI will act in wrath. ^bbMy eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. ^bcAnd though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”