I was amazed to see a wind storm blow in from the north, consisting of a massive cloud and fire that was flashing back and forth, surrounded by bright light. From deep within the cloud, something was shining that appeared to have a color like bronze that had been placed in fire until it glowed.

Their wheels and their construction details looked like gold-colored beryl. Each wheel was identical in form to the others, and they appeared to have been constructed and designed as if one wheel were within another.

Even while he was speaking to me, the Spirit entered me, set me on my feet, and I listened to the voice that had been speaking to me.

If you warn the righteous person, so that he doesn't commit sin, then he'll live, since he had been warned. And you will have saved your life."

I've assigned you to sleep this way for 390 days, representing the years they've been sinning, as you bear symbolically the punishment of the house of Israel.

"Now, Lord GOD," I replied, "I've never been defiled, ever since I was young until now. I haven't eaten an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts, and no unclean meat has ever entered my mouth!"

Your survivors will remember me among the nations where they'll be taken captives. I've been crushed by their unfaithful hearts that have turned against me.

I won't be showing pity or compassion. I'll repay you according to your behavior while your detestable practices remain among you. And you'll know that I, the LORD, have been attacking you.'"

The form of a hand reached out and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, brought me toward Jerusalem, and in visions that came from God took me through the doors of the inner gate that faced north, where an image that provoked God's jealous anger had been erected.

Then the glory that is Israel's God arose from the cherubim on which he had been seated and settled on the threshold of the Temple. He called out to the man dressed in linen who wore the writing case at his side.

You are to execute old men, young men, young women, little children, and women. But don't touch anyone who has been marked. Begin at my Holy Place!" And so they started with the elders who were in standing in front of the Temple.

"Therefore you are to say, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm going to gather you from among the nations, assembling you from the lands among which you have been dispersed. I'll give you the land of Israel.

Then in a vision from the Spirit of God, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea. At that point, the vision that I had been observing ended.

If it was useless before it was burned, now that it's been burned and charred through, it's even more useless!

This is what the Lord GOD says: "Because your lust has been poured out and your nakedness has been uncovered by your acts of fornication with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols and the blood of your sons, whom you offered to them,

if he doesn't eat at mountain shrines, and doesn't look to the idols that have been erected in Israel's house, if he doesn't defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her time of menstrual separation,

Because he reconsidered his transgression and turned away from everything that he had been doing, he'll certainly live and not die.

When she learned that her plans had been frustrated and that her hopes were dashed, she took another of her cubs and turned him into a fierce lion.

"Your mother was like a vine entwining a pomegranate, planted by water, full of fruit, and full of branches because it had been watered generously.

So I asked them, "What is the high place to which you're going?' That's why the name of the place has been called Bamah to this day."'

"Cry and wail, you Son of Man! It's headed against my people. It's also against all the princes of Israel, who have been tossed to the sword, along with my people. So it's time to grieve like you mean it,

"Watch out! I'm vehemently angry about the unjust gains that you've earned, and about the blood that has been shed among you.

When you've been defiled in the sight of the nations, then you'll know that I am the LORD."'"

like melting silver at the center of a furnace. When you've been melted from the center out, then you'll know that I am the LORD. I'll pour out my anger on you.'"

"Son of Man, tell her, "You're a land that hasn't been purified, one that hasn't been rained on in the day of indignation.

"Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality.

"She became even more sexually immoral when she saw the images of the Chaldean men who had been carved in red on their walls.

Girded with waistbands around their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looked like chariot officers, similar to the Babylonians from Chaldea, where they had been born.

These things will happen to you because of your sexual immorality that was patterned after what the nations do. You've been defiled by their idols.

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died that evening. The next morning, I did as I had been commanded.

"Son of Man, because Tyre has been saying about Jerusalem, "The international gateway is broken down! It's wide open to me! I will be replenished, now that it lies in ruins!'

There will be so many horses that the dust raised by them will cover you completely. The walls of your city will tremble from the noise of Nebuchadnezzar's cavalry, wagons, and chariots when they enter through the gates of your city, as men enter a city that has been breached.

Tell Tyre, who lives at the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea, who serves as the international merchant to many coastal districts: "This is what the Lord GOD says: "Tyre, you've been claiming, "I am beauty perfected.'

"Because you have so much to sell and are so rich, Damascus has been your trading partner, exchanging wine from Helbon, unbleached wool,

Is that when you'll say, "I'm God' to the face of those who will be killing you? After all, you're a man, and have never been a god, especially when you're under the control of those who will defile you!

You used to be in Eden God's paradise! You wore precious stones for clothing: ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and carbuncle. Your settings were crafted in gold, along with your engravings. On the day of your creation they had been prepared!

"You were the anointed cherub; having been set in place on the holy mountain of God, you walked in the midst of fiery stones.

"Then everyone living in Egypt will know that I am the LORD, because they have been an unreliable ally to the house of Israel.

"Because this is what the LORD says: "At the end of 40 years I'll gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they have been scattered.

"Son of Man, I've broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Look! It hasn't been set in a splint for healing or wrapped with a bandage so it could be strong enough to hold a sword!

Abundant water made it great, Subterranean rivers made it grow. Rivers surrounded the area where it had been planted, and water channels nourished all the trees in the fields.

As a result, none of its watered trees will grow tall, their tops will never reach to the clouds, and they'll never grow so high again, because all of them have been appointed to death in the world beneath where human beings go, that is, down to the Pit.'"

They also went down with it into Sheol, to those who had been killed violently and to those who had trusted in its strength by living in its shadow among the nations.

So tell me now, which of the trees of Eden compares to you in glory or greatness? Nevertheless, you'll be brought down, along with those trees of Eden, to the earth below. You'll lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who have been killed in war. Pharaoh and all his gang will be just like this!' declares the Lord GOD."

"This has been a lamentation. They will chant it, and the citizens of the nations will chant it, too. They'll chant it about Egypt and about all of its hordes."

"They'll die along with others who are killed violently. Egypt has been given over to violence, which will carry off both it and its hordes."

Her grave will be set in the remotest part of the Pit, surrounded by those who accompanied her. All of them will have been killed, executed violently, who spread terror throughout the land of the living.

"Elam will be there. Its hordes will surround Elam's grave. All of them have been killed. They died violently, and they have descended uncircumcised into the world below after having spread terror throughout the land of the living. They will bear the shame of those who descend to the Pit.

They have prepared a bed for her and for her hordes that surround her graves. All of them are uncircumcised, having been killed violently, because they had spread terror throughout the land of the living. They will bear the shame of those who descend to the Pit and will take their place among the dead.

"Edom will be there, along with its kings and princes who despite all their power have been killed violently. They, too, are lying dead, along with the uncircumcised; that is, with those who descend into the Pit.

"All of the princes from the North are there, along with the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame to join those who have been killed because of all the terror they caused by their military might. They lie dead, uncircumcised, with those who have been killed violently. They will bear their shame, along with those who descend into the Pit.

"because he spread terror throughout the land of the living. Therefore he'll be laid to rest among the uncircumcised, who have been killed violently; that is, Pharaoh and all of his hordes," declares the Lord GOD.

returning what has been placed as collateral for a loan, paying back what he has taken, following the regulations that promote life, and committing no iniquity, he will certainly live, and not die.

On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of our captivity, a fugitive who had escaped from Jerusalem came and informed me, "The city has been destroyed."

Now the hand of the LORD had been touching me the evening before that fugitive arrived, so the LORD had given me something to say by the time the messenger arrived the next morning. He opened my mouth and I no longer had nothing to say to him.

"Son of Man, those who are living among these ruins of the land of Israel keep saying, "Abraham was only one man, but he was able to possess the land! As for us, we're a multitude, and the land has been given to us as an inheritance.'

When all of this comes about and you can be sure that it will! they'll learn that a prophet has been in their midst."

"Woe to you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves and not the sheep. Shouldn't shepherds feed the sheep? You're eating the best parts, clothing yourselves with the wool, and slaughtering the home-grown sheep without having fed the sheep!

"Since they have no shepherd, they have been scattered around and have become prey for all sorts of wild animals. How scattered they are!

Just as a shepherd looks after his flock during the day time while he is with them, so also I'm going to watch over my sheep, delivering them from every place where they've been scattered during the times of gloom and doom.

My flock is grazing on what you've been treading down with your feet and they're drinking what you've been making muddy with your feet!'

since you've been bumping aside all the weaker sheep with your backsides and shoulders, butting them with your horns until they're scattered around outside.

I'll bring fruit to the trees in the orchards, the land will yield its produce, they will live securely on their land, and they will learn that I am the LORD, when I break the bar that has been their yoke and deliver them from the control of those who have enslaved them.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "The enemy has been saying about you, "Good! The ancient heights are back in our possession!"'"'

"Therefore this is what you are to prophesy: "Here's what the Lord GOD says, "You've been turned into a desolate wasteland and crushed by everyone who surrounds you for a very, very good reason. You've become the property of all the other nations and you've become the object of gossip and whispering campaigns of the nations."'"

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "Because some have been saying to you, "You mountains have been devouring human beings and leaving people childless,"

I've been concerned about my holy reputation, which the house of Israel has been defiling throughout all of the nations where they've gone."

"Therefore tell the house of Israel, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm not about to act for your sake, you house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation, which you have been defiling throughout all of the nations where you've gone.

I'm going to affirm my great reputation that has been defiled among the nations (that is, that you have defiled in their midst), and those people will learn that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I affirm my holiness in front of their very eyes.

So I prophesied, just as I had been ordered to do so. Immediately there was a noise and a rattling and then all of a sudden the bones came together by themselves! Each bone came together, all of them attached together!

Then he ordered me, "Prophesy to the Spirit, Son of Man. Tell the Spirit, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "Come from the four winds, you Spirit, and breathe into these people who have been killed, so they will live."'"

So I prophesied as I had been ordered, breath entered them, and they began to live. They stood on their own feet as a vast, united army.

"These bones represent the entire house of Israel," the LORD explained to me. "Look how they keep saying, "Our bones are dried up, and our future is lost. We've been completely eliminated!'

I'm going to place my Spirit in you all, and you will live. I'll place you all into your land, and you'll learn that I, the LORD, have been speaking and doing this,' declares the LORD.'"

"""Many days from now in the latter years you will be summoned to a land that has been restored from violence. You will be gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which formerly had been a continuous waste, but which will be populated with people who have been brought back from the nations. All of them will be living there securely.

I'm going to confiscate anything I can put my hands on. I'll attack the restored ruins and the people who have been gathered together from the nations, who are acquiring livestock and other goods, and who live at the center of the world's attention."

As scouts go searching throughout the land, whenever they see someone's bones, they will place a sign beside the remains until the remains have been buried in the Valley of Gog's Gang.

This is what the man told me: "Son of Man, watch carefully, listen closely, and remember everything I'm going to be showing you, because you've been brought here to be shown what you're about to see. Be sure that you tell the house of Israel everything that you observe."

Next, he brought me into the outer court, where chambers and a paved area had been constructed all around the courtyard, with 30 chambers facing the pavement.

However, the priests are not to eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or that has been torn apart."