EZEKIEL 8 [†] d In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month,  e as I sat in my house, with  f the elders of Judah sitting before me,  g the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there. 2[^][†]Then I looked, and behold,  h a form that had the appearance of a man. [1]  h Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like  i gleaming metal. [2] 3[^][†]He  j put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up  k between earth and heaven and  l brought me in  m visions of God to Jerusalem,  n to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north,  o where was the seat of the  p image of jealousy,  q which provokes to jealousy. 4[†]And behold,  r the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw  s in 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  u the altar gate, in the entrance, was this  p image of jealousy. 6And he said to me, “Son of man,  v do you see what they are doing,  w the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here,  x to 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. 8Then he said to me, “Son of man,  y dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9And he said to me, “Go in, and see  z the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10[†]So I went in and saw. And there,  a engraved on the wall all around, was  b every form of  c creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11[†]And before them stood  d seventy men of  e the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of  f Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and  g the 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  h in the dark, each  i in 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.”

14[†]Then he brought me to  l the 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  t son of man?  k You will see still greater abominations than these.”

16[†]And he brought me into  m the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD,  n between the  o porch and  p the altar, were about twenty-five men,  q with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping  r the sun toward the east. 17[†]Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O  s son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit  t the abominations that they commit here, that  u they should fill the land with violence and  v provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their [3] nose. 18Therefore  w I will act in wrath.  x My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity.  y And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”