Ezekiel 8

8 ¹ In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah seated before me, the hand of the Sovereign Father fell upon me there. ² Then I looked, and there was a figure with the appearance of fire: from what looked like his waist downward was fire, and from his waist upward was a brightness, like the gleam of glowing metal. ³ He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit of our Father lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me, in visions from our Father, to Jerusalem—to the entrance of the inner gate facing north, where the image of jealousy stood, the one that provokes jealousy. ⁴ And there was the glory of our Father, just as in the vision I had seen in the valley. ⁵ Then he said to me, "Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north." So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy at the entrance.

⁶ And he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations the house of Israel is committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But turn again, and you will see still greater abominations."

⁷ Then he brought me to the entrance of the court, and I looked, and there was a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, "Son of man, dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall, and there was a doorway.

⁹ And he said to me, "Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here."

¹⁰ So I went in and looked, and there, portrayed all around the wall, was every kind of crawling thing and detestable beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel. ¹¹ And standing before them were seventy of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense rising up.

¹² Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each at the shrine of his own carved image? For they say, 'Our Father does not see us; our Father has forsaken the land.'" ¹ 1 v12 These are the words of unfaithful Israel—claiming our Father neither sees nor cares. It is the oldest lie, that the Father is distant and absent. He sees everything; that is why he grieves. ¹³ And he said to me, "Turn again, and you will see still greater abominations that they are committing."

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of our Father, and there sat women weeping for Tammuz. ² 2 v14 Tammuz was a Babylonian god whose followers mourned his mythical seasonal death. The women carried out this pagan ritual at the very gate of our Father's temple. ¹⁵ And he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Turn again, and you will see abominations greater than these."

¹⁶ Then he brought me into the inner court of the house of our Father, and there, at the entrance of his temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple and their faces toward the east, bowing down to the sun in the east.

¹⁷ And he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it too small a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they commit here, that they should also fill the land with violence and provoke me to anger again and again? Look, they are putting the branch to their nose. ³ 3 v17 Putting the branch to the nose likely refers to a pagan worship gesture; its exact meaning is uncertain. ¹⁸ Therefore I too will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, and I will show no pity. Though they cry out in my ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them."