As I looked, I saw a stormy wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with fire flashing continually from it; and a brightness was around it, and in its core [there was] something like glowing [amber-colored] metal in the midst of the fire.

As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory and brilliance of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell face downward and I heard a voice of One speaking.

However, if you have warned the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning; also you have freed yourself [from responsibility].”

Everywhere you live, the cities will become waste and the high places will become deserted, so that your altars may bear their guilt and become deserted, your idols may be broken and destroyed, your incense altars [for sun-worship] may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will be [discarded] like something unclean; their silver and their gold shall not be able to save them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. These [things] cannot satisfy their soul nor fill their stomachs, for they have become their stumbling block and source of sin.

As for the beauty of [gold for] ornaments, they turned it to pride and from it made the images of their repulsive things (idols) and of their vile things. Therefore I will make it an unclean thing to them.

Standing before these [images] were seventy elders of the house of Israel, and among them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], each man with his censer in his hand and a thick and fragrant cloud of incense was rising [as they prayed to these gods].

Then the [Shekinah] glory and brilliance of the God of Israel (the cloud) went up from the cherubim on which it had rested, to [stand above] the threshold of the [Lord’s] temple. And the Lord called to the man clothed with linen, who had the scribe’s writing case at his side.

Then He said to me, “The wickedness (guilt) of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of blood and the city is full of perversion and injustice; for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; the Lord does not see [what we are doing].’

Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered; and a cloud [the Shekinah glory of God] filled the inner courtyard.

Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord moved upward from the cherubim to [rest over] the threshold of the temple; and the temple was filled with the cloud and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.

Then the [Shekinah] glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and rested over the cherubim.

As I looked at them, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth, they departed with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel hovered over them.

Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the [Shekinah] glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.

“Son of man, these men have set up [and honored] their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the [vile] stumbling block of their wickedness and guilt; should I [permit Myself to] be consulted by them at all?

Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Any man of the house of Israel who takes his idols [of rebellion] into his heart, and puts the [vile] stumbling block of his wickedness and guilt [images of silver and gold] before his face, and yet comes to the prophet [to ask of him], I the Lord will answer him, [but I will answer him] in accordance with the number of his idols,

For anyone of the house of Israel or among the strangers who immigrate to Israel who separates himself from Me, taking his idols into his heart, and puts right before his face the [vile] stumbling block of his wickedness and guilt, and [then] comes to the prophet to ask of Me for himself, I the Lord will answer him Myself.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was [made] of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil; so you were extremely beautiful and you advanced and prospered into royalty.

You also took your beautiful jewels and beautiful vessels made of My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men so that you could prostitute yourself with them;

As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his sin.

[Therefore] I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;

It will seem like a false divination in their eyes, those who have sworn solemn oaths [of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar]. But he will remind them of their guilt [by rebelling and violating their oath], that they may be caught.

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have caused your guilt to be remembered, in that your rebellion is uncovered, so that your sins appear in everything that you do—because you have come to mind, you will be seized with the hand [of the enemy].

“That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance,
I have put her blood [guilt for her children sacrificed to Molech] on the bare rock,
That it may not be covered.”

Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will rot away in your sins and you will groan to one another.

The merchants of Sheba and Raamah [in Arabia], they traded with you; they paid for your wares with the choicest of all kinds of spices and all kinds of precious stones and gold.

With your [own] wisdom and with your [own] understanding
You have acquired your riches and power
And have brought gold and silver into your treasuries;

“You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz, and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and your sockets,
Was in you.
They were prepared
On the day that you were created.

“You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness and evil were found in you.

“You profaned your sanctuaries
By the great quantity of your sins and the enormity of your guilt,
By the unrighteousness of your trade.
Therefore I have brought forth a fire from your midst;
It has consumed you,
And I have reduced you to ashes on the earth
In the sight of all who look at you.

“When they (Israel) grasped you (Egypt) by the hand,
You broke and tore apart their hands;
When they leaned on you,
You broke and strained their backs.”

“In Tehaphnehes the day will be dark
When I break the yoke bars and dominion of Egypt there.
Then the pride of her power will come to an end;
A cloud [of disasters] will cover her,
And her daughters will go into captivity.

‘The cedars in the garden of God could not hide or rival it;
The cypress trees did not have boughs like it,
And the plane trees did not have branches like it.
No tree in the garden of God was like it in its beauty.

“And when I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud
And the moon will not give its light.

therefore, as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will hand you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you since you have not hated bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.

You will go up [against them], you will come like a storm; you shall be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.”

Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish (southern Spain), with all its young lions (villages) will say to you, ‘Have you come to take spoil? Have you assembled your hordes [of fighting men] to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?’”’

and you will go up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. In the last days it will come about that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy through you before their eyes, O Gog.”

In the porch (portico) of the gate were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering.

Then he (the angel) said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers, which are opposite the separate area, are the holy chambers where the priests who are close to the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall place the most holy things—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.

But the Levites who went far away from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, they shall bear the punishment for their sin and guilt.

Because the priests ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of sin to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up My hand and have sworn [an oath] against them,” says the Lord God, “that they shall bear the punishment for their sin and guilt.

He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil (cook) the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer courtyard to transmit holiness to the people.”

Again he measured a thousand [cubits]; and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed [by wading].

“The east side, from between Hauran, Damascus, Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side.