And from its midst [was] the likeness of four living creatures, and this [was] their appearance: {a human form},

And he said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the {Israelites}, to nations [who are] rebelling, who rebelled against me, they and their ancestors, they transgressed against me {until this very day}.

And he said to me, "Son of man, what you find, eat! Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."

And I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat,

and he said to me, "Son of man, you must give your stomach [this] to eat, and you must fill your belly [with] this scroll that I [am] giving to you." And I ate, and it became {like sweet honey} in my mouth.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This [is] Jerusalem in the midst of the nations [where] I have put her, and countries [are] around her.

And they will know that I [am] Yahweh; not {in vain} I spoke to bring to them this evil." '

And he said to me, "Son of man, lift up now your eyes {toward the north}." And I lifted up my eyes {toward the north}, and, look, [there was] to the north of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy at the entrance.

This [was] the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel at the {Kebar River}, and I knew that they [were] cherubim.

And he said to me, "Son of man, these [are] the men {who devise mischief}, and [who are] offering bad counsel in this city,

And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, "Say, 'thus says Yahweh: "This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them, the thoughts of your spirit.

You made your slain ones numerous in this city, and you have filled its streets [with] slain ones." '

"Son of man, your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, {who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem}, 'They are far from Yahweh, [therefore] to us this land was given as a possession.'

Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "This oracle [is about] the prince in Jerusalem and {the entire} house of Israel {who are among them}." '

"Son of man, what [is] this proverb {you people have} about the land of Israel, {saying}, '{The days are prolonged}, and every vision has come to nothing.'

Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "I will put an end [to] this proverb, and they will not quote it as a proverb again in Israel." ' But say to them, 'The days are near, and [also] the word of every vision.'

Therefore speak with them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Every person from the house of Israel who brings up his idols into his heart and {places before himself} a stumbling block of his guilt and [yet] he comes to the prophet, I Yahweh, I will respond to him through this act with [respect to] the multitude of his idols,

And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful shrines, and you prostituted on them; {this had not happened before}, and it {will not continue to happen}.

And you increased your fornication to [the] land of traders, [to] Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

Look! This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: Pride, abundance of food, and {prosperous ease} was to her and to her daughters, and {she did not sustain the needy and the poor}.

" '"And there was another great eagle, great of wings and [with] abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed {where it was planted}.

"{What do you mean by} quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, {saying}, 'The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.'

{As I live}, {declares} the Lord Yahweh, it will surely not any longer be {appropriate for you} to quote this proverb in Israel!

And [so] fire has gone out from the stem of its branches; its fruit it has consumed, and [there] was not in it {a strong branch}, a scepter for ruling.'" This [is] a lament, and {it will be used as a lament}.

"Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Again [in] this your ancestors blasphemed me {at their display of infidelity toward me}." '

And I said to them, 'What [is] the high place to which you are going?' And {it is called} Bamah until this day.

A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it! Also this has not [ever] happened; [it will remain] until the coming of [the one] [to] whom the judgment belongs and I have given it [to him].'

Also they did this to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that day, and they profaned my Sabbaths

and when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that day to profane it. And look, {this is what they did in my house}!

"Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, {this very day}. The king of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem on exactly this day!

Vedan and Javan from Uzal, they exchanged wrought iron, cinnamon, and reed spice for your merchandise; [all this] was for your wares.

And they will raise over you with their wailing a lament, and they will chant a lament over you: 'Who is like Tyre, like [this] destruction in the midst of the sea?'

[This occurred] so that all of [the] trees [with abundant] water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between [their] thick foliage, and [so that]{all of the trees that are abundantly watered} {will not stand up to them} in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given [over] to death, to [the] world below in the midst of {mortals}, to [the people] going down to the grave."

{This is} a lament, and they will chant it as a lament; the daughters [of] the nations will chant it as a lament over Egypt, and over all of its hordes they will chant it as a lament," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

[I do this] because of your saying, 'The two nations and the two lands, they will be {mine}, and we will take possession of it,' and [yet] Yahweh was there.

And they will say, "{This desolate land} has become like the garden of Eden, and the wasted and desolate and destroyed cities, [now] being refortified, are inhabited."

"Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Again this [time] I will let {myself be inquired of} by the house of Israel, to do [something] for them; I will cause them to increase {their population like a flock}.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was destroyed, in this day exactly, the hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me there

And the man spoke to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and listen with your ears and apply your heart to all that I [am] showing you, for you were brought here in order to show you [this]; tell all that you [are] seeing to the house of Israel."

And the pavement {flanked} the side of the gates {and all along the gates}; this [describes] the lower pavement.

And he said to me, "This chamber {with its face toward the south} [is] for the priests [who are] taking care of the responsibility of the temple.

And he brought me to the temple [sanctuary], and he measured the pilasters, {six cubits wide on each side}; [this was] the width of the tent.

And he measured its length [as] twenty cubits and [its] width [as] twenty cubits to [the] front of the temple, and he said to me, "This [is] {the most holy place}.

And [the] face of a human {was toward} the palm tree image {on the one side}, and [the] face of a fierce strong lion {faced} the palm tree image {on the other side}; {this work was executed} for the entire temple {all the way around}.

{a wooden altar} [that] [was] three cubits high, and its length [was] two cubits, and its corners for it and its length and its walls [were of] wood. And he spoke to me, "This [is] the table that [is] {before} Yahweh."

And he said to me, "Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet {where I will dwell} in the midst of the {Israelites} to eternity, and they, the house of Israel, they and their kings, will not again defile {my holy name} with their fornication and with their offerings for the dead of their kings [on] their high places.

This [is] the law of the temple: On the top of the mountain, all of its territory, {all the way around it}, {will be most holy}. Look, this [is] the law of the temple.

And these [are] the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter {is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width} and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this [is] [also] the height of the altar.

And Yahweh said to me, "This gate will be shut. It shall not be opened, and {no one} will go through it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered it, and it will be shut.

And [there] shall be from this [area] five hundred [cubits] by five hundred [cubits], squared all around, for the sanctuary; and fifty cubits [of] open space [shall be] for it all around [it].

And from this measured area you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand [cubits] and a width of ten thousand [cubits], and in it will be the sanctuary, {the most holy place}.

[This] shall be to him {with respect to the land} as property in Israel; [and so] my princes shall not again oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes."

Thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Enough [of this] for you, the princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction and do justice and righteousness; revoke your [acts of] dispossession from upon my people!" {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

This [is] the contribution [offering] which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a homer of wheat, and a sixth of the ephah from a homer of barley.

"All of the people of the land shall join [in] to this contribution with the prince in Israel.

And when the prince comes, on the way of the portico of the gate he shall come and by this way he shall go out.

And he said to me, "This [is] the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, [and] where they shall bake the grain offering [in order] not to bring [them] out to the outer courtyard to make the people holy.

And he asked me, "Son of man, did you see [this]?" And he made me go, and he brought me back [along] the bank of the stream.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "This [is] the boundary [by] which you shall distribute the land for {the twelve} tribes of Israel: Two shares [shall be for] Joseph.

And you must take possession of it, each [one] [a share] like his brother, [of this land] which {I swore} to give it to your fathers, and [so] this land shall fall to you as an inheritance.

And this [is] the boundary of the land: {On the north side}, from the great sea [by] the way of Hethlon {until you come to Zedad},

And [so] [the] boundary will be from the sea to Hazar Enan [at] the boundary of Damascus northwards and the boundary of Hamath [to the north], and this [is the boundary on the] side of [the] north.

{And the eastern boundary} [will be] between Hauran and Damascus, and from between Gilead and the land of Israel [along] the Jordan [River] from [the] boundary on the eastern sea to Tamar. And {this is the border on the east}.

{And on the south side the border} [will run] from Tamar up to the waters [of] Meribot Kadesh [and along] the wadi to the Great Sea. And this [is] {the boundary to the south}.

{And on the west side} the Great Sea [shall be] the boundary up to opposite Lebo-Hamath. {This is the western boundary}.

You shall divide this land for yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

This [is] the land that you shall allot as [an] inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these [are] their portions," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.