On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year of the exile to Babylon, while I was among the captives on the bank of the Chebar River, heaven opened up and I saw visions from God.

On the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's imprisonment in exile,

a message from the LORD came directly to Buzi's son Ezekiel, the priest, by the Chebar River in the land of the Chaldeans. The hand of the LORD rested upon him there.

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.

From under their wings there were human hands on their four sides.

Now as to their four faces and four pairs of wings, their pairs of wings overlapped each other. They moved in straight directions without turning their faces around as they moved.

The form of their faces was human, but each of the four also had the face of a lion to the right, the face of an ox to the left, and the face of an eagle behind them.

That's what their faces were like. Their wings spread out above and around them, one pair overlapping another, with one pair covering themselves.

Each moved in straight directions. Wherever they decided to go, they went without turning themselves.

Now, in the midst of the living beings there was something that appeared to glow like coals kindled by a fire, like torches that moved back and forth between the living beings. The fire was dazzling, and lightning flashed from the fire.

The living beings moved around, in appearance resembling lightning.

As I observed the living beings, I noticed one wheel on the earth beside each being that is, for the four of them.

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.

There was spread out over the heads of the living beings what looked like a canopy, in outward appearance resembling ice,

and underneath the canopy, their wings spread out straight over their heads toward each other. They each also had two wings with which they covered themselves, one wing covering its body on one side and one wing covering itself on the other side.

I also heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of roaring water, like the voice of the Almighty, or like a boisterous crowd within an army camp. Whenever they stopped flying, they lowered their wings.

From above the canopy that was spread out over their heads, there appeared to be something reminiscent of a throne, resembling sapphire in form.

There was the likeness of the appearance of a human being seated on the likeness of the throne high above. I noticed that from what appeared to look like his waist upward there was something that looked like metal that glowed as if it were immersed in fire. Below this there was something resembling fire, with a radiant light surrounding him.

The appearance of the radiant light resembled that of a rainbow shining in a cloud on a rainy day. This was what the appearance of the form of the glory of the LORD resembled. When I saw all of this, I fell flat on my face. Then I heard a voice speaking.

"Son of Man," the LORD said, "get up on your feet. I want to talk to you."

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.

Whether this rebellious group listens to you or not, at least they'll realize that a prophet had appeared in their midst!

As I watched, all of a sudden there was a hand being stretched out in my direction! And there was a scroll

being unrolled right in front of me! Written on both sides were lamentations, mourning, and cries of grief.

Then he told me, "Son of Man, fill your stomach and digest this scroll that I'm giving you." So I ate it, and it was like sweet honey in my mouth.

But the house of Israel won't listen to you, since they weren't willing to listen to me. That's because the entire house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

Then the Spirit lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly with an angry attitude as the hand of the LORD rested on me.

"Son of Man," he said, "I've appointed you to be a watchman over the house of Israel. Therefore when you hear a message that comes from me, you are to warn them for me.

"So when I say to a wicked person, "You're about to die,' if you don't warn or instruct that wicked person that his behavior is wicked so he can live, that wicked person will die in his sin, but I'll hold you responsible for his death.

If you warn the wicked person, and he doesn't repent of his wickedness or of his wicked behavior, he'll die in his sin, but you will have saved your own life.

"When a righteous man abandons his righteousness to practice unrighteousness, I'll set a stumbling block before him. He'll die. If you don't warn him, he'll die in his sin and the righteous deeds that he had practiced won't be remembered, but you'll be held responsible for his death.

So I got up, went to the valley, and there was the glory of the LORD, standing there just like I had seen at the Chebar River. So I fell on my face.

The Spirit entered me, rested on me, caused me to stand on my feet, and then he spoke to me. This is what he had to say: "Go barricade yourself in your house.

Now pay attention! They're going to bind you with ropes, tying you up right in their midst, so you won't be able to circulate freely among them.

But when I speak with you, I'll open your mouth so you can say to them, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "As for those who will listen, "Let them listen,' but as for those who refuse, "Let them refuse,' since they're a rebellious group."'"

"And now Son of Man, you are to take a brick, set it in front of you, and inscribe on it the outline of the city that is, Jerusalem.

Then you are to take a flat, iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. "Next, you are to turn toward it, oppose it, and place it under siege, because you are to lay siege to it. All of this will serve as a sign to the house of Israel.

"Now as for you, you are to sleep on your left side, symbolically bearing the punishment of the house of Israel while you're counting the days you'll be sleeping on your left side to bear symbolically the punishment for their sin.

When you have completed this, you are to sleep on your right side, symbolically bearing the iniquity of Judah for 40 days. Each day that I've assigned to you represents one year.

Look! I'll tie you up so that you're unable to turn from one side to the other until you've completed your siege."

"Furthermore, you are to take some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in one container. Then you are to make bread from these grains sufficient to supply you through the time during which you'll be sleeping on your side. You are to eat it for 390 days.

You are to measure one sixth of one hin of water each time you drink it.

You are to eat it as barley cakes and bake it right in front of them, using dried human dung for cooking fuel."

"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!"

He also told me, "Son of Man, look! I'm about to disrupt the source of bread in Jerusalem. As a result, they'll ration bread by weight while their terror continues to grow and they'll ration drinking water while their horror continues to mount!

Indeed, they'll need bread and water, but everyone will be panic-stricken as they waste away in their iniquity."

You are to burn a third of it in the middle of the city when you've finished your siege. Next, you are to take another third of it and beat it with your sword. Last, you are to scatter the remaining third to the wind, after which I'll unsheathe my sword and pursue them.

You are to preserve a few strands of hair and hide them in the folds of your garment.

Then you are to take a few strands, throw them in the fire, and incinerate them. A fire will proceed to the house of Israel from there."

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "This is Jerusalem. I placed her in the center of nations, with many nations surrounding her.

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Watch out! I that's right, even I am against you. I'll carry out my sentence among you right in front of the nations.

In fact, I'm going to do what I've never done before and what I'll never again do, because of all of your loathsome behavior:

Fathers will eat their children in your midst. After this, your sons will eat their fathers as I carry out my sentence against you and scatter your survivors to the winds!'

A third of you will die by pestilence, starving because of the famine in your midst. Another third will die violently by the violence of war around you. The final third I'll scatter to the wind as I unsheathe my sword to pursue them.

"Only then will I stop being angry my burning in anger. Then they'll know that I've spoken out in my arduous anger. Only then will my burning anger against them be exhausted.

I'm also going to turn you into a waste and an object of insult among the nations that surround you and in front of every person who passes by.

As a result, Jerusalem will become an insult, an object of taunt, an example of chastisement, and a useless waste to all the nations that surround you when I carry out my sentence against you in my anger, my burning rage, and my burning rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.

I'll send arrows of severe famine in their direction, meant for destruction, which I'll shoot, intending to destroy them. I'll make you have more and more famines that will attack you, and I'll disrupt your source of food.

"I'll send famine and wild beasts against you that will rob you of your children. Pestilence and bloodshed will devastate you when I'll declare war on you. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Your altars will become desolate and your sun pillars will be shattered. I'll throw your slain down right in front of your idols.

I'll place the corpses of the Israelis in front of their idols. I'll scatter your bones around your altar.

In all the places where you live, the cities will be desolate. The high places will also be desolate so that your altars will be laid waste, bearing the punishment appropriate to them. Your idols will be shattered, your sun pillars will be hewn down, and your works will be obliterated.

I'll leave a remnant among you those who will escape the sword when I'll have scattered you throughout the earth.

The one who lives far away will die by pestilence and the one who is near will die violently. The survivors and their surveillance details will die by famine as I exhaust my rage against them.

"You'll learn that I am the LORD, when the fatally wounded will be among their idols, around their altars, on every hill, on top of the mountains, under every luxuriant tree, and under all the full-grown foliage every place where they've offered fragrant aromas to all their idols.

I won't be showing pity on you and I won't be showing compassion. I'm going to turn your own lifestyles against you while your detestable practices remain among you. Then you'll learn that I am the LORD.'"

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "It's one evil event after another! ""Look out! It's coming!

""The end is coming! ""The end is here! ""And it's looking in your direction! ""Look out! It's arrived!

""Your doom has come to you, you who live in the land. The time has arrived, and the day of confusion is near. There will be no shouts of joy on the mountains.

Very soon now, I'll pour out my burning anger on you. I'll complete expressing my anger at you, judge you according to your behavior, and repay you for all your detestable practices.

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.'"

"Violence has matured into a branch that is wicked. No one will survive from that vast crowd, from their wealthy people, or from the famous among them.

"The day has arrived. Don't let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller lament, because wrath is coming to attack the entire multitude. The seller won't regain what he has sold while the crowd remains alive, because the vision concerning the entire multitude won't be annulled. No person will be able to survive because of the sin in his life.

"They've sounded the alarm, and everyone is prepared, but no one is marching for battle, since I'm angry at the entire multitude.

The sword lurks outside, but pestilence and famine are on the prowl inside the house. Whoever is in the field will die by violence, while famine and pestilence will devour those in the city.

Fugitives will escape to the mountains like doves fleeing through the valleys, all of them moaning because of their own iniquity.

They'll fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will be cast away as impure. Their silver and gold won't be able to deliver them during the time of the LORD's wrath. They won't be able to satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs, because their iniquity has tripped them up."

"As for his beautiful ornament, he set it up in majesty, but they made detestable images and loathsome idols. Therefore, I'll give them something loathsome

"When destruction comes, they'll seek peace, but there will be none to be found.

Disaster upon disaster will come, followed by rumor after rumor. They'll seek an oracle from the prophet, but the Law will be gone from the priests, and counsel from the elders.

In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I had just sat down in my house, with the elders of Judah seated in front of me. All of a sudden, the hand of the Lord GOD touched me

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.

All of a sudden, the glory of the God of Israel was there! It looked like what I had seen back in the valley.

Then the Spirit brought me to the entrance of the court. As I watched, all of a sudden, there was a hole in the wall!

Then he told me, "Son of Man, dig through the wall!" So I dug into the wall. That's when I uncovered an entrance!

Then he told me, "Go on through that entrance, so you may see the wicked, detestable things that they're committing here."

I saw 70 men from the elders of the house of Israel standing among them, including Shaphan's son Jaazaniah. Each man held a censer in his hand. As the scent of the cloud of incense ascended,

the Spirit asked me, "Do you see, Son of Man, what the elders of Israel's house are doing in secret, each in the chamber of his own carved idol? They keep saying, "God doesn't see us. The LORD has abandoned the land.'"

"Do you see this, Son of Man?" he asked me. "Is it an insignificant thing for Judah's house to commit the detestable things that they're doing here? They've filled the land with violence and turned away from me, causing me to become angry again. Look how they're sniffing with their noses!

I'm going to deal with them in rage and anger. I'll show neither pity nor compassion. They'll cry loudly directly in my ears, but I won't listen to them."

Then the Spirit shouted right in my ears with a loud voice! "Come forward," he said, "you executioners of the city, and bring your weapon of destruction in your hand!"

All of a sudden, I noticed six men approaching from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. Each of them held a destructive weapon in his hand. Among them there was one man, clothed in linen, who was equipped with a writing set at his side. They went in and presented themselves beside the bronze altar.

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.

The LORD told him, "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of everyone who sighs and moans over all of the loathsome things that are happening in it."

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.

While they were out carrying out the executions, I was left alone. So I fell on my face and cried out, "O Lord GOD, are you going to destroy all of the survivors of Israel when you pour out your anger on Jerusalem?"

So as for me, I'm not going to show pity, and I won't look in their direction with mercy. I'm repaying them for what they have done."

Then I noticed the man dressed in linen who wore the writing case by his side as he brought back this message: "I've done as you have commanded me."

As I continued to watch, there on the expanse above the heads of the cherubim was a massive sapphire stone that resembled a throne in form and appearance.

The LORD spoke to the man who was clothed in white linen, telling him, "Go between the whirling wheels, under the cherubim, and fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim. Then scatter them over the city." So he entered as I watched.