Visions of Abominations in the Sanctuary

1Now it happened in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of Lord Yahweh fell on me there. 2Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of [†]one on fire; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the gleam of [†]glowing metal. 3He sent forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the [†]north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the figure of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. 4And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

5Then He said to me, “Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this figure of jealousy at the entrance. 6And He said to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.”

7Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. 9And He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.” 10So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 11Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. 12Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land.’” 13And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are doing.”

14Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of Yahweh which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

16Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and they were [†]prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations which they have done here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me to anger still more? For behold, they are sending forth the twig to their nose. 18Therefore, I also will do this in wrath: My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare; and they will cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”