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.

Whatever direction these spirits went, the wheels would be lifted up along with them, because the wheels were alive.

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

Then the Spirit lifted me up and I heard a great earthquake behind me and the glory of the LORD arose from his place,

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.

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he told me, "Get up! Go to the valley, and I'll speak with you there."

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.

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.

You are to lay siege against it, build a rampart around it, set a bulwark against it, encircle it with a berm, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it.

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.

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."

Your time is up! I'm sending my anger against you to judge you according to how you live your lives, and I'm going to pay you back with the consequences of all your detestable practices.

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

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 he told me, "Son of Man, look up toward the north." So I looked off toward the north. Suddenly, off toward the north, facing the gate that led to the altar, the image that provoked God's jealousy was standing near the entrance.

When they stood still, the wheels stood still. When they rose up, the wheels rose up, too, because they were alive.

The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east facing gate of the LORD's Temple. At the entrance of the gate I saw 25 men. Included among them were Azzur's son Jaazaniah and Benaiah's son Pelatiah, who were princes of the people.

Then you'll learn that I am the LORD, because you didn't live by my statues or obey my ordinances. Instead, you obeyed the ordinances of the nations around you."'"

The glory of the LORD went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain, east of the city.

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.

You didn't go up to repair the breaches in the walls and you didn't build the walls so Israel's house would be able to endure battle on the Day of the LORD.

Therefore, speak up and tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "Every person from Israel's house who follows his idols and sets the stumbling block that is his own sin in front of his face, and then consults a prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to how many idols he embraces.

For when a native Israeli or a resident alien abandons me to set up idols in his heart behind my back, and then places the stumbling block of his iniquity right in front of his own face, then approaches a prophet to inquire of me on behalf of his own self-interest, I, the LORD will answer him myself.

After all, it's useful only for kindling a fire, isn't it? And once you've burnt up the ends and charred through the middle of it, is it useful for anything else?

to punishment. They may have escaped one fire, but the coming fire will burn them up completely, and they will know that I am the LORD, when I set myself in opposition to them

"Tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "Will it prosper? Won't he pull up its roots, and strip it bare so all its fresh foliage dries up? It won't be by great strength or by a great army that it will be uprooted.

Then all the trees of the fields will know that I, the LORD, bring down the lofty tree and exalt the lowly tree. I dry up the green tree and cause the dry tree to bud. I the LORD have spoken this, and I will fulfill it."

"But they rebelled against me and weren't willing to obey me. None of them abandoned their detestable practices or their Egyptian idols. So I said, "I'll pour out my anger on them, extending my fury in the middle of the land of Egypt.'

On his right hand he is divining against Jerusalem, preparing to set up battering rams, preparing for the slaughter, getting ready to sound the alarm for battle, setting the battering rams in place at the gates, building siege mounds, and erecting a siege wall.

Can your heart stand up to this? Can your hands remain strong when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken and will fulfill this.

"Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: "Look! I'm about to stir up your lovers against you, the ones from whom you've turned away in disgust. I'm going to bring them against you from every direction

So compose a parable for the rebellious house. Tell them, "This is what the Lord God says: "Prepare your pot for boiling! Set it in place. Fill it up with water, too.

In order to stir up my anger and in order to take vengeance, I set the blood on a bare rock so that it cannot be covered.'

Pile up the wood! Make the fire burn hot. Boil the meat! Mix the seasonings. Burn those bones to a crisp!

"Son of Man, pay attention! I'm about to take away your most precious treasure with a single, fatal stroke, but you are not to mourn, weep, nor even let tears well up in your eyes.

You are to weep in silence, but you are not to participate in mourning rituals. You are to keep your turban on your head and your sandals on your feet. You are not to cover your mouth or eat what your comforters bring to you."

Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals will be on your feet. You won't mourn or weep. Instead, you'll waste away in your sins. Every one of you will groan to his relative.

therefore you'd better look out! I'm going to turn you over to men from the East, who will dominate you. You will become their property. They will set up military encampments and permanent places in which to live among you, and then they'll eat your fruit and drink your milk.

They'll shave their heads bald because of you. They'll dress themselves in sackcloth and weep for you with deep bitterness of heart, with the most pitiful of mourning.

"So I'm going to plant a hook in your jaw and make the fish in your waterways grab hold of your scales. I'll bring you up out of the middle of your waterways, along with all of the fish from your waterways that cling to your scales,

I'll dry up their waterways, and evil men will sell off the land. I'm going to make that land desolate, along with everything that's in it, and I'm going to use foreigners to do it. I, the LORD have spoken!'"

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "On the day that it descended into Sheol, I shut down its water supplies, covered over its deep water, and shut down its rivers. As a result its abundant water sources dried up, and I caused Lebanon to mourn for it. All the trees of the field wilted because of it.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm coming fishing for you! Right in the sight of many nations they'll haul you up in my dragnet.

I'll fling you up onto the land; I'll haul you into the field, I'll make every carrion-eating bird come to dine on you, and I'll make all the scavenging animals gorge themselves on you.

I'll drench the land with your blood, right up to the mountains, and the ravines will overflow with blood that comes from you!

I'm going to destroy all of its livestock along its many riverbanks. Human feet won't muddy the rivers anymore, nor will the hooves of livestock stir up the water.

"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!'

Then you'll learn that I am the LORD, when I've opened your graves and caused you to come up out of them, my people.

You'll come up to invade my people Israel like a storm cloud to cover the land. In the last days, Gog, I'll bring you up to invade my land so that the world will learn to know me when I show them how holy I am before their very eyes."'"

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "Surely you're the one about whom I spoke years ago in the writings of my servants, Israel's prophets, aren't you? They predicted back then that I would bring you up after many years, didn't they?

I'm going to turn you around, drag you along to your destruction, and bring you up from the farthest parts of the north, and carry you to the mountains of Israel.

Seven steps led up to it, with a porch in front of them. Palm tree ornaments were engraved on its side pillars, one on each side.

The side chambers surrounding the Temple were wider at each successive story, because the surrounding structure ascended by proportional increments as it rose, ascending to the highest story by going up successively from the lowest.

including up to the doorway, up to the Temple (both within and without) and all around both sides of the inner wall, according to his measurement.

Just then, the Spirit lifted me up and carried me into the inner courtyard, where the glory of the LORD was filling the Temple!

by their setting up their threshold too close to my threshold and their door post too close to my door post, with a wall between me and them. After all, they have defiled my holy name by the loathsome things that they did, so I devoured them in my anger.