their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved, but went straight ahead.

Each moved straight ahead -- wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.

A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully on me.

So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I threw myself face down.

So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure of creeping thing and beast -- detestable images -- and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.

Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

He said to them, "Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!" So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, "Go between the wheelwork underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city." He went as I watched.

(The cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.)

When the Lord commanded the man dressed in linen, "Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim," the man went in and stood by one of the wheels.

The cherubim spread their wings, and they rose up from the earth while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord's temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

Then a wind lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me.

So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage on my shoulder while they watched.

You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his.

Say to the Ammonites, 'Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said "Aha!" about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

When your products went out from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with the abundance of your wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.

It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it.

Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.

"Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.'

I was concerned for my holy reputation which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation which you profaned among the nations where you went.

The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword.

Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate as 10? feet deep.

He measured the porch at 105 feet high; the gateway went all around to the jamb of the courtyard.

Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance as 3? feet, the entrance as 10? feet, and the width of the entrance as 12? feet

The side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story; for the structure surrounding the temple went up story by story all around the temple. For this reason the width of the temple increased as it went up, and one went up from the lowest story to the highest by the way of the middle story.

"'But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for their sin.

"'But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep.