Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

On the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished bronze.

As for their rims, they were so high that they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, round about the four of them.

And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his waist even upward, and from the appearance of his waist even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

For they are impudent children and stubborn. I do send you unto them; and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD.

But you, son of man, hear what I say unto you; Be not you rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat what I give you.

So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that scroll.

So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; He that hears, let him hear; and he that refuses, let him refuse: for they are a rebellious house.

For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given you cow's dung for human waste, and you shall prepare your bread over it.

And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then take balances to weigh and divide the hair.

So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

So will I send upon you famine and wild beasts, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it.

And say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

Thus says the Lord GOD; Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain.

Then he said unto me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now in the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes in the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entrance.

He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, see you what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations.

So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.

Then said he unto me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his idols? for they say, The LORD sees us not; the LORD has forsaken the land.

He said also unto me, Turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations that they do.

Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

Then said he unto me, Have you seen this, O son of man? turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these.

And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.

And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a weapon for slaughter in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;

And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in its midst.

Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD sees not.

Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory.

And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaks.

And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings.

And the cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubim.

And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.

Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

Who say, It is not near for us to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

Afterwards the Spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

In their sight shall you bear it upon your shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: you shall cover your face, that you see not the ground: for I have set you for a sign unto the house of Israel.

And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my belongings by day, as belongings for captivity, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bore it upon my shoulder in their sight.

Say you unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

Say, I am your sign: like I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall move and go into captivity.

And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to go out through it: he shall cover his face, so that he sees not the ground with his eyes.

My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

And say unto the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dismay, that their land may be emptied from all who are in it, because of the violence of all them that dwell in it.

Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.

For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall no more be delayed: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord GOD.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.

Therefore say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be delayed any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord GOD.

Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say you unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear you the word of the LORD;

Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination, whenever you say, The LORD says it; although I have not spoken?

And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall break it.

So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation shall be uncovered, and it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in its midst: and you shall know that I am the LORD.

Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;

That is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Lord GOD.

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew charms upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads, of every length, to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will you save the souls alive that belong to you?

Therefore you shall see no more false visions, nor practice divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall know that I am the LORD.

Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols;

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, so that it is desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:

Yet, behold, in it shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and their doings: and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.

And they shall comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.

And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live; yea, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live.

Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will uncover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness.

So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

You are your mother's daughter, that loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had various colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

Say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, so that it withers? it shall wither in all its leaves of spring, not requiring great power or many people to pluck it up by its roots.

Say now to the rebellious house, Know you not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem, and has taken its king, and its princes, and led them with him to Babylon;

And has taken the king's descendant, and made a covenant with him, and has taken an oath from him: he has also taken the mighty of the land:

What mean you, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.

And has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor's wife, neither has come near a woman during her impurity,

And that does not any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbor's wife,

Now, lo, if he begets a son, that sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not the same,

That has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor's wife,

Yet say you, Why? does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.

Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

And say, What is your mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her cubs among young lions.

Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion.

And fire has gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Have you come to inquire of me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

And say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the descendants of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;