The shape of a throne with the appearance of sapphire stone was above the expanse. There was a form with the appearance of a human on the throne high above.

He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak with you.”

As He spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and I listened to the One who was speaking to me.

He said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebellious pagans who have rebelled against Me. The Israelites and their ancestors have transgressed against Me to this day.

When He unrolled it before me, it was written on the front and back; words of lamentation, mourning, and woe were written on it.

He said to me: “Son of man, eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.

“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak My words to them.

Next He said to me: “Son of man, listen carefully to all My words that I speak to you and take them to heart.

But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

Now if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, and I put a stumbling block in front of him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die because of his sin and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have saved your life.”

Then the hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and I will speak with you there.”

The Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.

The Lord said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their bread—ceremonially unclean—among the nations where I will banish them.”

He replied to me, “Look, I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you can make your bread over that.”

Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight and in dread drink water by measure.

You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out.

Then your survivors will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive, how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from Me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did, their detestable practices of every kind.

You will all know that I am Yahweh when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak—the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols.

The seller will certainly not return
to what was sold
as long as he and the buyer remain alive.
For the vision concerning all its people
will not be revoked,
and none of them will preserve
his life because of his iniquity.

He appointed His beautiful ornaments for majesty,
but they made their abhorrent images from them,
their detestable things.
Therefore, I have made these
into something filthy for them.

He stretched out what appeared to be a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north, where the offensive statue that provokes jealousy was located.

He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing here, more detestable things that the house of Israel is committing, so that I must depart from My sanctuary? You will see even more detestable things.”

Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked there was a hole in the wall.

He said to me, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and there was a doorway.

He said to me, “Go in and see the terrible and detestable things they are committing here.”

Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has abandoned the land.’”

Again He said to me, “You will see even more detestable things, which they are committing.”

So He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house, and I saw women sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

And He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even more detestable things than these.”

So He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house, and there were about 25 men at the entrance of the Lord’s temple, between the portico and the altar, with their backs to the Lord’s temple and their faces turned to the east. They were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

And He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the detestable things they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and repeatedly provoke Me to anger, even putting the branch to their nose?

Then He called to me directly with a loud voice, “Come near, executioners of the city, each of you with a destructive weapon in his hand.”

Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherub where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man clothed in linen with the writing equipment at his side.

He spoke as I listened to the others, “Pass through the city after him and start killing; do not show pity or spare them!

Then He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out killing people in the city.

He answered me: “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; He does not see.’

The Lord spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with hot coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” So he went in as I watched.

The sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard as far as the outer court; it was like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

Then the cherub reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took some, and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and He told me, “You are to say: This is what the Lord says: That is what you are thinking, house of Israel; and I know the thoughts that arise in your mind.

The prince who is among them will lift his bags to his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He will cover his face so he cannot see the land with his eyes.

But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he will not see it, and he will die there.

“Son of man, notice that the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees concerns many years from now; he prophesies about distant times.’

“For this is what the Lord God says: How much worse will it be when I send My four devastating judgments against Jerusalem—sword, famine, dangerous animals, and plague—in order to wipe out both man and animal from it!

“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine, that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood?

Even when it was whole it could not be made into a useful object. How much less can it ever be made into anything useful when the fire has devoured it and it is charred!

You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and you engaged in prostitution on them. These places should not have been built, and this should never have happened!

“How your heart was inflamed with lust”—the declaration of the Lord God—“when you did all these things, the acts of a brazen prostitute,

He plucked off its topmost shoot,
brought it to the land of merchants,
and set it in a city of traders.

Then he took some of the land’s seed
and put it in a fertile field;
he set it like a willow,
a plant by abundant waters.

But there was another great eagle
with great wings and thick plumage.
And this vine bent its roots toward him!
It stretched out its branches to him
from its planting bed,
so that he might water it.

You are to say: This is what the Lord God says:

Will it flourish?
Will he not tear out its roots
and strip off its fruit
so that it shrivels?
All its fresh leaves will wither!
Great strength and many people
will not be needed to pull it from its roots.

He took one of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he took away the leading men of the land,

However, this king revolted against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt so they might give him horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still escape?

“As I live”—this is the declaration of the Lord God—“he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.

He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. He did all these things even though he gave his hand in pledge. He will not escape!”

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “As I live, I will bring down on his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke.

I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there for the treachery he committed against Me.

This is what the Lord God says:

I will take a sprig
from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it.
I will pluck a tender sprig
from its topmost shoots,
and I will plant it
on a high towering mountain.

I will plant it on Israel’s high mountain
so that it may bear branches, produce fruit,
and become a majestic cedar.
Birds of every kind will nest under it,
taking shelter in the shade of its branches.

He does not eat at the mountain shrines or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or come near a woman during her menstrual impurity.

He doesn’t oppress anyone but returns his collateral to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

He doesn’t lend at interest or for profit but keeps his hand from wrongdoing and carries out true justice between men.

He follows My statutes and keeps My ordinances, acting faithfully. Such a person is righteous; he will certainly live.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

and when he oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, and does not return collateral, and when he raises his eyes to the idols, commits detestable acts,

and lends at interest or for profit, will he live? He will not live! Since he has committed all these detestable acts, he will certainly die. His blood will be on him.

“Now suppose he has a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, and though he sees them, he does not do likewise.

He does not eat at the mountain shrines or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife.

He doesn’t oppress anyone, hold collateral, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

He keeps his hand from harming the poor, not taking interest or profit on a loan. He practices My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a person will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will certainly live.

“As for his father, he will die for his own iniquity because he practiced fraud, robbed his brother, and did what was wrong among his people.

But you may ask, ‘Why doesn’t the son suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will certainly live.

“Now if the wicked person turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will certainly live; he will not die.

None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. He will live because of the righteousness he has practiced.

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?

But when a righteous person turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same detestable acts that the wicked do, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. He will die because of the treachery he has engaged in and the sin he has committed.

When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, he will die for this. He will die because of the iniquity he has practiced.

But if a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.

He will certainly live because he thought it over and turned from all the transgressions he had committed; he will not die.

She brought up one of her cubs,
and he became a young lion.
After he learned to tear prey,
he devoured people.

When the nations heard about him,
he was caught in their pit.
Then they led him away with hooks
to the land of Egypt.

He prowled among the lions,
and he became a young lion.
After he learned to tear prey,
he devoured people.

He devastated their strongholds
and destroyed their cities.
The land and everything in it shuddered
at the sound of his roaring.

Then the nations from the surrounding provinces
set out against him.
They spread their net over him;
he was caught in their pit.

When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices and presented their offensive offerings there. They also sent up their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offerings there.

So I asked them: What is this high place you are going to? And it is called High Place to this day.

For on My holy mountain, Israel’s high mountain”—the declaration of the Lord God—“there the entire house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your contributions and choicest gifts, all your holy offerings.

Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, they are saying of me, ‘Isn’t he just posing riddles?’”

For the king of Babylon stands at the split in the road, at the fork of the two roads, to practice divination: he shakes the arrows, consults the idols, and observes the liver.

The answer marked Jerusalem appears in his right hand, indicating that he should set up battering rams, give the order to slaughter, raise a battle cry, set battering rams against the gates, build a ramp, and construct a siege wall.

A ruin, a ruin,
I will make it a ruin!
Yet this will not happen
until He comes;
I have given the judgment to Him.

“In addition, they sent for men who came from far away when a messenger was dispatched to them. And look how they came! You bathed, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry for them.

Yet they had sex with her as one does with a prostitute. This is how they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those obscene women.

Now Ezekiel will be a sign for you. You will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

He will slaughter your villages on the mainland with the sword. He will set up siege works against you, and will build a ramp and raise a wall of shields against you.

He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his iron tools.