Chapter 8

¹ And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in the house, and the elders of Juda were sitting before me: and the hand of the Lord came upon me. ² And I looked, and, behold, the likeness of a man: from his loins and downwards there was fire, and from his loins ¹upwards there was as the appearance of amber. ³ And he stretched forth the likeness of a hand, and took me by the crown of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God, to the porch of the ²gate that looks to the north, where was the pillar of the ³Purchaser. ⁴ And, behold, the glory of the Lord God of Israel was there, according to the vision which I saw in the plain.

⁵ And he said to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes toward the north, and, behold, I looked from the north toward the eastern gate. ⁶ And he said to me, Son of man, hast thou seen what these do? They commit great abominations here so that I should keep away from my sanctuary: and thou shalt see yet greater iniquities.

⁷ And he brought me to the porch of the court. ⁸ And he said to me, Son of man, dig: so I dug, and behold a door. ⁹ And he said to me, Go in, and behold the iniquities which they practise here. ¹⁰ So I went in and looked; and beheld vain abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon ⁴them round about. ¹¹ And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jechonias the son of Saphan stood in their presence in the midst of them, and each one held his censer in his hand; and the smoke of the incense went up. ¹² And he said to me, Thou hast seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do, each one of them in their secret chamber: because they have said, The Lord see not; The Lord has forsaken the earth.

¹³ And he said to me, Thou shalt see yet greater iniquities which these do. ¹⁴ And he brought me in to the porch of the house of the Lord that looks to the north; and, behold there were women sitting there lamenting for Thammuz. ¹⁵ And he said to me, Son of man, thou hast seen; but thou shalt yet see evil practices greater then these.

¹⁶ And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty men, with their back parts toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces turned the opposite way; and these were worshipping the sun. ¹⁷ And he said to me, Son of man,

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thou hast seen this. Is it a little thing to the house of Juda to practise the iniquities which they have practised here? for they have filled the land with iniquity: and, behold, these are as scorners. ¹⁸ Therefore will I deal with them in wrath: mine eye shall not spare, nor will I have any mercy.