Ezekiel 6-11 Glory Goes, New Covenant Comes
Psalm 94:12-23 Wait for It
Psalm 94:12 “Blessed is the man whom You discipline, Yah, and teach out of Your law; 13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For Yahweh won’t reject His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance. 15 For judgment will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it. 16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? 17 Unless Yahweh had been my help, my soul would have soon lived in silence. 18 When I said, "My foot is slipping!" Your hesed/loyal covenantal love, Yahweh, held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Your comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with You, which brings about mischief/evil by statute/legislation? 21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. 22 But Yahweh has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge. 23 He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off."
Observations: 94:1-11 See post on 2 Kings 2 for vv 1-11, in which the psalmist laments the free reign of the wicked who appear to do evil without consequences. He pleads to the God of vengeance to see and act on his behalf.
94:12-23 In the second half the psalmist confesses the blessedness of the one who God corrects and teaches out of His law, so that they will have rest from their adversaries. God never rejects His people but always loyally acts toward them in hesed. He sustains them until the time is right to destroy their enemies. He sees all that goes on, and has no fellowship with wicked rulers who make laws for their own benefit rather than that of the people.
Application: God might not immediately change the situation, but rest assured, He will act for those rightly related to Him. In the meantime, learn to draw comfort from God's revealed character and hesed alone.
Prayer: God thanks that You do discipline and bless Your people with Your presence and protection; thanks too that You execute vengeance and justice for Your people. Amen.
Proverbs 22:13-14 Lying about Lions
Pr 22:13 “The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!" 14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit: he who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.“
Observations: 22:13 Sluggards who are always lying about, lie about lions. In Solomon's civilized day, the only lions in town were in zoos. The sluggard comes up with false excuses for inactivity in not doing what they should be doing, (like trusting, obeying and serving God). See Saga of the Sorry Sluggard on Truthbase.net for the loss the sluggard suffers.
22:14 The adulteress frequently catches her prey with her flattering words (Pr 7:21). Someone who is not following God, but going their own way is subject to His wrath, and will fall into a trap from which they won't escape (Pr 2:16-20).
Ps 81:12 So I gave them up to their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
Application: Those who don't desire God, desire destruction.
Prayer: Lord, expose any false excuses and deadly traps or desires which could keep me from doing Your will. Thanks. Amen.
Ezekiel 6-11 Ezekiel gets another vision of God's glory, seeing Him pour out judgment and depart from Jerusalem. The usual warnings and judgments are given to those sinning against God. Comfort is offered in God being a Sanctuary for the exiles, promising to return them to the land, and planning to put a new heart and spirit in them.
Ezekiel 6 God Doesn't Warn in Vain
6:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, 3 and say, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
8 Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries. 9 Those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10 They shall know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.
11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath on them. 13 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Observations: 6:1-14 God will bring judgment with the usual sword, famine, pestilence and scattering the remnant into captivity, because of Israel's idolatry, so that they may know that He is Yahweh (and the idols are not). By destroying the idols and those who worship them Yahweh was demonstrating the worthlessness of the idols and fulfilling His promise to punish the unfaithful evildoers. The oft repeated words “they shall know that I am Yahweh” is a reminder that Yahweh was the one who established them as a nation, and was the One who made a covenant with Abraham, Jacob, and them; it was not the idols that blessed them.
Application: God never speaks His words in vain; He will punish His disloyal people.
Prayer: God, I know that You mean what You say, and will do all You promised; may I have the same integrity in my life. Amen.
Ezekiel 7 According to Your Ways
16 But those of those who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity. 17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. 18 They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing. 21 I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it. 22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.
23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned. 25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26 Mischief shall come on mischief, and rumour shall be on rumour; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Observations: 7:1-27 The dreaded day of judgment draws near. God will judge Judah according to their judgments (7:27), according to the decisions they made to sin and do their will rather than God's will. There is no escape; everything they could trust in is worthless. Because they defiled the sanctuary with their abominable worship of other gods, He will defile it with strangers.
Application: Since God always judges in response to our judgments/choices, choose wisely what kind of consequences you want.
Prayer: Lord, show me how to sow righteousness, so I will reap a sure reward of blessing. Thanks. Amen.
Ezekiel 8 Dark Deeds Exposed
7 He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door. 9 He said to me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. 10 So I went in and saw; and see, every form of creeping things, and abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall. 11 There stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor 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 do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? for they say, Yahweh doesn’t see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land.
13 He said also to me, you shall again see yet other great abominations which they do. 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and see, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, son of man? You shall again see yet greater abominations than these. 16 He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and see, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and behold, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore will I also deal in wrath; my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
Observations: 8:1-18 Ezekiel gets another vision of God like chapter one, who took him to Jerusalem to see what goes on in secret worship. He sees all the abominations that the elders and people worship, which cause jealousy. The prophet, as the embodiment of the word of God digs through the wall to expose the sinful things they worship in secret: creepy crawly things (particularly serpents), Tammuz the Sumerian pagan fertility god who dies near the end of summer, is mourned, and comes back to life at the winter solstice (forerunner of pagan holiday taken over by Christmas; his consort Ishtar gave rise to Easter under Roman influence), and they even turned their backs to Yahweh to worship the sun. People tend to think that if they don't die or suffer immediate devastation, they've gotten away with their sin. Think again.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Application: God sees and judges what we do in secret; nothing escapes His notice, so only do what you won't mind having displayed and judged in the light.
Prayer: All-Seeing God, I know that You see and know all I do; don't let me ever deceive myself into an alternative reality, but rather help me live and walk in the light rather than darkness. Amen.
Ezekiel 9 Killer Angels
5 To the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike: don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity; 6 kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. 7 He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth! They went forth, and struck in the city. 8 It happened, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell on my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem? 9 Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see. 10 As for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head. 11 Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.
Observations: 9:1-11 Ezekiel witnesses the judgment and destruction of all who did not mourn the abominations being committed in Jerusalem. A group of killer angels follow a servant of God clothed in linen who marks those spared from judgment, similar to the blood of the Passover lamb sparing from the final plague. There are no specific identifications of the mystery man in linen, who also executes judgment on the city with coals from under the throne (in the next chapter), but some believe it might be a per-incarnate appearance of the Living Word (although in Revelation 8:5 it is an angel who judges the earth in a similar manner).
Verse 3 starts to trace the movement of the glory of the Lord from the Temple, which will continue in 10:4,18-19; depart in 11:23; and return to the Millennial temple in 43:2-5.
Application: Embracing God's values cause us to rejoice over what pleases Him, and mourn over what grieves Him; it also spare us from judgment.
Prayer: God, may I be so in tune with what pleases and displeases You that I reject and grieve over my sin, and that of my nation. Amen.
Ezekiel 10 Glory Going
8 There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand under their wings. 9 I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. 11 When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn’t turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn’t turn as they went. 12 Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels. 14 Every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 The cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. 16 When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them. 17 When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 18 The glory of Yahweh went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. 19 The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 22 As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.
Observations: 10:1-7 After the killer angels destroyed the people the agent of God takes coals from the midst of God's throne and scatters them over the city. The imagery is judgment that burns the impurities (Isa 6; 10:16; Rev 4:5; 8:5-7). God probably doesn't have coals under his throne to keep warm, but to show how judgment is inextricably bound up in His rulership and glory. If it was all about love, there would be a hot chocolate dispenser (with marshmallows) under the throne.
10:8-22 The vision of God's glory parallels that of chapter one and Revelation 4:5-8. Note that He is seen on His throne, exercising dominion, an integral part of His glory. In verse 18 the glory moves from the Temple back to the throne, which moves and stands at the east gate. The glory will depart the city in the next chapter, after judgment is pronounced against the leaders. In Exodus 34 God's reveals His glory to Moses, in the exercise of His rule to pardon or punish according to the terms of His hesed (covenantal loyalty).
34:5 Now Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. 6 And Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping hesed for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."
Application: God's judgment of the rebellious is as much a part of His glory as is His pardoning of the repentant.
Prayer: God, may I always be conscious of Your glory, and never take You for granted, but live so You can delight in me. Amen.
Ezekiel 11 Glory Gone, New Covenant Comes
14 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 15 Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession. 16 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come. 17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations from there. 19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; 20 that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.
22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23 The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 24 The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.
Observations: 11:1-13 Ezekiel prophesies against the leaders who give false counsel to the people, denying the reality that the end is near (Ezek 7:2) and refusing to lead in the Lord's way, but instead led the people in the ways of the pagan nations. They were saying that it's time to build houses (rather than go into captivity). The meat-cauldron statement is difficult (probably indicating that they are the choice pieces in the pot, or a mockery of judgment) and is reversed by the Lord in verses seven and eleven. While Ezekiel is prophesying one of the leaders dies, prompting Ezekiel to fear that God will wipe out the remnant, which is corrected in the following verses.
11:14-17 God tells Ezekiel that his relatives in captivity are the remnant (not those in Jerusalem) and that He will not only be with them in their captivity, but will bring them back to the land of Israel.
11:18-21 When the scattered are regathered and returned to the land, they will remove all the abominations that caused the captivity, and then God will enter into the new covenant with them. As mentioned in Jeremiah 31:33 the new heart is a function of the new Spirit in them (Isa 59:21). As a result of the Spirit, God's people would walk in His ways. Some however, would refuse, and would suffer the consequences of their continued rebellion. Just like God gave Israel the land, experiencing the benefits of it would be dependent upon dependent obedience. Those with the Spirit, don't automatically obey and have a relationship of covenant obedience with God (at least this hasn't been seen yet, and the potential for rejection is obvious from verse 21). In order to experience benefits of the Spirit, one needs to dependently submit his/her will to Him rather than grieve or quench Him.
Ezekiel 18:30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"
11:22-25 The glory of God finally departs the city. Ichabod.
Application: One can't go on following abominable practices and expect an amicable relationship with God.
Prayer: God, I want to live in daily fellowship with You, doing Your will, and experiencing Your delights and glory; change my heart so I only desire You. Amen.
Digging Deeper:
God in a nutshell: God is awesome in power and judgment, as well as in love and forgiveness. None of His warning or threats are in vain, for He always follows through on His word. He sees and judges everything, even our most hidden actions. The comforting thing is that He equally follows through on His promises to bless. He is a sanctuary to His people even while judging them, if they seek Him. He has plans to regather and bless Israel, putting His Spirit in them on a full-time basis.
Us in a nutshell: We will surely reap the consequences of our actions. A good relationship with God is dependent upon loyal obedience. Leaders frequently lead people astray because they don't take God's word seriously; they will suffer the greater judgment, and their secret sins will be exposed. Even when God offers a new heart and spirit, some will persist in their old ways and refuse the benefits of walking with God, and will miss out on His glory.
Where to Go for More:
Ezekiel complete text
Ezekiel 6
6:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, 3 and say, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
8 Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries. 9 Those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10 They shall know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.
11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath on them. 13 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 7
7:1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, An end: the end has come on the four corners of the land. 3 Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations. 4 My eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: An evil, an only evil; behold, it comes. 6 An end has come, the end has come; it awakes against you; behold, it comes. 7 Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land: the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains. 8 Now will I shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations. 9 My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring on you according to your ways; and your abominations shall be in the midst of you; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, do strike. 10 Behold, the day, behold, it comes: your doom is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded. 11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There shall be nothing of value among them. 12 The time has come, the day draws near: don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude. 13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they be yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude of it, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 14 They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all its multitude. 15 The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within: he who is in the field shall die with the sword: and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But those of those who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity. 17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. 18 They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing. 21 I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it. 22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.
23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned. 25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26 Mischief shall come on mischief, and rumour shall be on rumour; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 8
8:1 It happened in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Yahweh fell there on me. 2 Then I saw, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his waist and downward, fire; and from his waist and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. 3 He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north; where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 4 Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain. 5 Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and see, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 6 He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you shall again see yet other great abominations.
7 He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door. 9 He said to me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. 10 So I went in and saw; and see, every form of creeping things, and abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall. 11 There stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odour 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 do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? for they say, Yahweh doesn’t see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land.
13 He said also to me, you shall again see yet other great abominations which they do. 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and see, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, son of man? You shall again see yet greater abominations than these. 16 He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and see, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and behold, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore will I also deal in wrath; my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
Ezekiel 9
9:1 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2 Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in their midst clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side. 4 Yahweh said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst.
5 To the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike: don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity; 6 kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. 7 He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth! They went forth, and struck in the city. 8 It happened, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell on my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem? 9 Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see. 10 As for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head. 11 Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.
Ezekiel 10
10:1 Then I looked, and see, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2 He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. He went in as I watched. 3 Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 The glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory. 5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. 6 It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. 7 The cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took of it, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
8 There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand under their wings. 9 I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. 11 When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn’t turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn’t turn as they went. 12 Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels. 14 Every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 The cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. 16 When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them. 17 When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 18 The glory of Yahweh went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. 19 The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 22 As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.
Ezekiel 11
11:1 Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh’s house, which looks eastward: and see, at the door of the gate twenty-five men; and I saw in their midst Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city; 3 who say, The time is not near to build houses: this is the caldron, and we are the meat. 4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man. 5 The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. 6 You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the meat, and this is the caldron; but you shall be brought out of its midst. 8 You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you, says the Lord Yahweh. 9 I will bring you forth out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. 10 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 11 This shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the meat in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel; 12 and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither have you executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you. 13 It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 15 Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession. 16 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come. 17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations from there. 19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; 20 that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.
22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23 The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 24 The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.
No comments:
Post a Comment