Abominations in the Temple

¹dIn the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, eas I sat in my house, with fthe elders of Judah sitting before me, gthe hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. ²Then I looked, and behold, ha form that had the appearance of a man.1 hBelow what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like igleaming metal.2 ³He 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. ⁴And behold, rthe glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw sin the valley.

⁵Then 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 pimage of jealousy. ⁶And he said to me, “Son of man, vdo you see what they are doing, wthe great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, xto 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, ydig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. ⁹And he said to me, “Go in, and see zthe vile abominations that they are committing here.” ¹⁰So I went in and saw. And there, aengraved on the wall all around, was bevery form of ccreeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. ¹¹And before them stood dseventy men of ethe elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of fShaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and gthe 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 hin the dark, each iin his room of pictures? For they say, j‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” ¹³He said also to me, k“You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

¹⁴Then he brought me to lthe 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 tson of man? kYou will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶And he brought me into mthe inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, nbetween the oporch and pthe altar, were about twenty-five men, qwith their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping rthe sun toward the east. ¹⁷Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O sson of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit tthe abominations that they commit here, that uthey should fill the land with violence and vprovoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their3 nose. ¹⁸Therefore wI will act in wrath. xMy eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. yAnd though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”