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.

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.

"Son of Man, I'm sending you to that rebellious people, the Israelis, who have rebelled against me the same way their ancestors did. And they're still rebels to this very day!

They're stubborn and strong willed. I'm sending you to them to tell them what the LORD says.

"Son of Man, you are to listen to what I tell you. You are never to be rebellious like they are: a rebellious group. Now, open your mouth and eat what I'm giving you""

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, eat! Eat what you see this scroll and then go talk to the house of Israel."

So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

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.

Then he told me, "Son of Man, go to the house of Israel and tell them what I have to say to them,

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.

So pay attention! I'm going to make you just as obstinate and unyielding as they are.

I'm making you harder than flint like diamond! So you are not to fear them or be intimidated by how they look at you, since they're a rebellious group."

Next, he told me, "Son of Man, take to heart every word that I'm telling you. Listen carefully,

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.

At the end of the seven days, this message from the LORD came to 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.

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.

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.

After this, you are to turn toward the rampart of Jerusalem and oppose it with your bare arms, because I'm going to prophesy about it.

"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!

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.

But she rebelled against my ordinances and my statutes. She practiced more evil than all the nations and territories around her. They rejected my ordinances and didn't live by my statutes.'

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Because you're more disrespectful than the nations that surround you, you didn't follow my statutes or follow my ordinances. You didn't even follow the ordinances of the surrounding nations!'

"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!'

"Therefore, as sure as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "because you've defiled my sanctuary with every loathsome thing and every abomination, I'll restrain myself, and I'll show neither pity nor compassion.

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.

The LORD continued with his message to me.

Tell the mountains of Israel to listen as the Lord GOD speaks. This is what the Lord GOD has to say to the mountains, hills, streams, and the valleys: "Look! I'm about to bring my sword against you. I'm going to destroy your high places.

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.

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.

I'll stretch out my hands to strike them and send devastation to the land, from the wilderness of Diblah, throughout all their dwelling places. Then they'll know that I am the LORD."

This message from the LORD arrived for me:

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.

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.'"

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.

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

I'll turn my face away from them so that they'll defile my treasured place. Robbers will enter and profane it!

Therefore, I'm bringing the worst of the nations, who will take possession of their houses. I'll cause the pride of the mighty to cease, and their sanctuaries will be profaned.

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.

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.

Then the Spirit told me, "Son of Man, don't you see what they're doing? The house of Israel practices awful, detestable things here, so I'm going far away from my sanctuary. But you're about to see things even more detestable than these."

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."

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.'"

Then the Spirit told me, "You're about to see even more detestable practices that they're doing!"

Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate to the LORD's Temple, which faced the north. That's where I saw women seated, weeping for Tammuz.

Then he asked me, "Do you see this, Son of Man? You're about to see even more detestable practices than these."

Then he brought me to the inner court of the LORD's Temple. There, at the entrance to the LORD's Temple, between the porch and the altar, were 25 men, with their backs toward the LORD's Temple and facing the east, prostrating themselves to the sun.

"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!"

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.

"Desecrate my Temple," he told them, "and fill its courtyard with the dead!" So they went out and began striking down people throughout the city.

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?"

"The house of Israel and Judah is guilty and theirs is a stubborn guilt, at that!" he replied to me. "The land is filled with blood, and the city overflows with injustice, because they keep saying, "The LORD has abandoned the land,' and "The LORD isn't watching.'

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."

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 he told me, "Son of Man, these men are plotting evil and are giving wicked advice in this city.

Just then the Spirit of the LORD took control of me and told me, "You are to say, "This is what the LORD says: "You've said, O house of Israel, that I know what goes through your mind.

You've feared the sword, but I'm bringing violent death in your direction," declares the Lord GOD.

"I'm bringing you out from the middle of it and I'm going to deliver you into the hands of strangers, because I'm going to carry out my sentence against you.

This city won't be your cooking pot and neither will you be the meat in it, because I'm going to judge you as far as the borders of Israel.

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."'"

While I was prophesying, Benaiah's son Pelatiah died, so I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice. "Ah, Lord GOD," I said, "are you going to put an end to the survivors within Israel?"

Then this message came to me from the LORD:

"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 I'll give them a united heart, placing a new spirit within them. I'll remove their stubborn heart and give them a heart that's sensitive to me.

When they live by my statutes and keep my ordinances by observing them, then they'll be my people and I will be their God.

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.

This message came to me from the LORD:

"While they're watching, carry your luggage on your shoulder and go out in total darkness. Cover your face so that you won't see the land, because I'm using you as a sign to Israel's house."

I did just as I was commanded. I brought out the luggage as if it were luggage for exile. I did this during the day. Then in the evening I dug a hole in the wall with my hand and brought the luggage out in total darkness and carried it out on my shoulder while they were watching.

The next morning, this message came to me from the LORD:

Tell them, "I'm a sign for you. Just as I enacted it, it's going to happen to them. They'll go into exile and captivity.

But I'll throw my net over him. As a result, he'll be captured with my net, and with it I'll bring him to Babel, the land of the Chaldeans. He won't see it, though he'll die there.

I'll scatter every attendant who surrounds him, along with his entire army, to every wind. When I unsheathe my sword to pursue them,

This message came to me from the LORD:

Later, this message came to me from the LORD:

Therefore you are to tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm about to put an end to use of this proverb in Israel. It will never be used again as a proverb in Israel. Instead, tell them that the days are drawing near when every vision will be fulfilled.

Later, this message came to me from the LORD:

Therefore tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "None of my messages will be delayed any longer. Any message that I speak will be fulfilled," declares the Lord GOD.'"

This message came to me from the LORD:

My hand will oppose the prophets who see false visions and speak deceptive divinations. They won't be included with the council of my people, nor will they be entered into the registry of Israel's house or enter Israel's land. Then you'll know that I am the Lord GOD,

because they've truly caused my people to stray saying, "Peace," but there's no peace.'"

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says, "In my burning anger, I'll rip it open with a windstorm. In my anger, I'll rinse it off with rain, and put an end to it with a hailstorm in my destructive rage.

""That's how I'll vent my anger on the wall and on the ones who coated it with whitewash. And I'll say to you, "The wall is gone and so are those who coated it."

Tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "How terrible it will be for those women who sew magical bracelets on all their wrists and make one-size-fits all headbands, in order to entrap their souls. Will you hunt for the souls of my people and remain alive?