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.

I was amazed to see a wind storm blow in from the north, consisting of a massive cloud and fire that was flashing back and forth, surrounded by bright light. From deep within the cloud, something was shining that appeared to have a color like bronze that had been placed in fire until it glowed.

The form of their faces was human, but each of the four also had the face of a lion to the right, the face of an ox to the left, and the face of an eagle behind them.

Now, in the midst of the living beings there was something that appeared to glow like coals kindled by a fire, like torches that moved back and forth between the living beings. The fire was dazzling, and lightning flashed from the fire.

Their wheels and their construction details looked like gold-colored beryl. Each wheel was identical in form to the others, and they appeared to have been constructed and designed as if one wheel were within another.

There was spread out over the heads of the living beings what looked like a canopy, in outward appearance resembling ice,

A sound came from above the canopy that was spread out over their heads. Whenever they stood still, they lowered their wings.

From above the canopy that was spread out over their heads, there appeared to be something reminiscent of a throne, resembling sapphire in form.

There was the likeness of the appearance of a human being seated on the likeness of the throne high above. I noticed that from what appeared to look like his waist upward there was something that looked like metal that glowed as if it were immersed in fire. Below this there was something resembling fire, with a radiant light surrounding him.

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.

As I watched, all of a sudden there was a hand being stretched out in my direction! And there was a 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.

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, 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!"

and I saw a likeness comparable to the appearance of a man. From his thighs downward there was the appearance of fire, and from his waist upward, there was the appearance of brightness that looked like brass.

All of a sudden, the glory of the God of Israel was there! It looked like what I had seen back in the valley.

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 brought me to the entrance of the court. As I watched, all of a sudden, there was a hole in the wall!

So I entered, looked around, and there was every form of crawling thing, loathsome animals, and all kinds of idols from the house of Israel carved all around the wall.

All of a sudden, I noticed six men approaching from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. Each of them held a destructive weapon in his hand. Among them there was one man, clothed in linen, who was equipped with a writing set at his side. They went in and presented themselves beside the bronze altar.

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?"

As I continued to watch, there on the expanse above the heads of the cherubim was a massive sapphire stone that resembled a throne in form and appearance.

The LORD spoke to the man who was clothed in white linen, telling him, "Go between the whirling wheels, under the cherubim, and fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim. Then scatter them over the city." So he entered as I watched.

The glory of the LORD rose above the cherub and moved to the threshold of the Temple. A cloud filled the Temple and the court was filled with the brilliance of the LORD's glory.

He issued this order to the man who was clothed in white linen: "Take fire from within the whirling wheels, among the cherubim." So he went and stood beside the wheels.

Then a cherub stretched out his hand to the fire, which was among the cherubim, took some of the fire, and placed it in the hands of the one clothed in white linen, who took it and left.

Whenever they moved, they proceeded without turning around as they moved, but they followed in the direction where their head was facing, without looking around as they moved.

The wheels whose sound I was hearing were called "the whirling wheels".

Each had four faces. The first one was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

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?"

"Son of Man, your brothers, your other relatives, your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel are the people to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, "They've abandoned the LORD. This land was given to us for an inheritance.'"

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.

If it was useless before it was burned, now that it's been burned and charred through, it's even more useless!

You are to declare, "This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: "Your birth place was the territory that belonged to the Canaanites. Your father was an Ammonite and your mother was a Hittite.

Now as to your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord wasn't cut. You weren't washed with water to clean you, and nobody rubbed you with salt. And it's certain that you weren't wrapped in strips of cloth.

"When I passed by you again, I looked at you, and noticed that it was your proper time for love. I spread my cloak over you to cover your nakedness. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a covenant with you," declares the Lord GOD. "You belong to me.

At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality.

"Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. Your elder sister was Samaria. She and her daughters lived in the north, while your younger sister who lived in the south with her daughters was Sodom.

It wasn't just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!"

Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy.

before your wickedness was revealed. Now you've become an object of derision to the inhabitants of Aram and its neighbors, including the Philistines all those around you who despise you.

"""All of a sudden, there was another eagle with gigantic wings and thick plumage. The vine stretched its roots hungrily toward him and spread its branches out to him in order to be watered on the terraces where it was planted.

It was transplanted into good soil near abundant water, and it produced branches and bore fruit, becoming a magnificent vine."'

As for his father, watch out! If he wrongfully oppressed or robbed his brother and did what wasn't good among his people, he'll die because of his own sin."

"Yet you keep asking, "Why wouldn't the son bear the punishment of his father's sin?' Because the son has done what was lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes and obeyed them, he's certainly going to live.

Tell them: "What a lioness your mother was among lions! She reared her cubs in the midst of fierce young males.

He raped the women, devastating their towns. The land was made desolate, and all the while the land was filled with the sound of his roaring.

The surrounding nations attacked. They tossed their net over him, and he was caught in their trap.

"Your mother was like a vine entwining a pomegranate, planted by water, full of fruit, and full of branches because it had been watered generously.

Yet in anger it was uprooted and cast down to the earth. An east wind desiccated its fruit; its strong branches broke off and withered, and a fire consumed them.

"But they rebelled against me. They didn't live according to my statutes, observe my ordinances, or practice them, by which a person will live. They also kept profaning my Sabbaths. So I said that I was going to pour out my anger on them and in my anger I'm going to bring about a complete end to them in the wilderness.

The older one was named Oholah and her sister was named Oholibah. They belonged to me and gave birth to sons and daughters. Now as to their real identities, Oholah refers to Samaria and Oholibah to Jerusalem."

"Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality.

I saw that she was defiled, because the two of them both were on the same path.

The Babylonians came to her love nest and defiled her with their sexual immorality. As a result, she was defiled by them. Even so, she turned away from them in disgust.

"Nevertheless, she became even more sexually immoral, even reminiscing about when she was young, when she kept on practicing sexual immorality in the land of Egypt.

These things will happen to you because of your sexual immorality that was patterned after what the nations do. You've been defiled by their idols.

then sat down on an elegant bed. A table was arranged in front of it, on which you set out my incense and oil.

Her blood was in it. She poured it out onto bare rock. She didn't pour it out on the ground, intending to cover it with dirt.

Tell the Ammonites: "Listen to a message from the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says: "Because you have said, "Aha!' about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it became desolate, and about the households of Judah when they went into exile,

They'll sing this mourning song for you: "How lost you are, you inhabited city, that was built in the middle of the sea! How famous you were! How strong on the sea! She and her inhabitants inflicted terror to everyone who lived within her."

"Tarshish was your business partner because of your phenomenal wealth. They traded silver, iron, tin, and lead for your merchandise.

"Aram was one of your customers because you had so much merchandise. They paid by trading turquoise, purple yarn, embroidered goods, Egyptian linen, coral, and rubies.

You were blameless in your behavior from the day you were created until wickedness was discovered in you.

"Beautiful because it was so great, with its long branches, it was rooted in many bodies of water.

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Because of its towering height, with its summit reaching into the clouds, and because it was haughty in its position,

I made the nations tremble when they heard that Assyria was falling, descending into Sheol to join those who go down into the Pit. Then all of the trees of Eden in the world below were comforted, including the choicest and best of Lebanon, all of whom were well-watered.

If that sentinel notices that violence is approaching, but does not sound an alarm, then because the nation does not take warning and the sword arrives and destroys their lives because of their guilt, I'll seek retribution for their shed blood from the one who was acting as sentinel.'"

"Son of Man, those who are living among these ruins of the land of Israel keep saying, "Abraham was only one man, but he was able to possess the land! As for us, we're a multitude, and the land has been given to us as an inheritance.'

"Son of Man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it with their lifestyles and behavior; they were as disqualified to be with me as a menstruating woman is to you.

Nevertheless, when they arrived in those nations, they continued to profane my holy name. It was said about them, "These are the LORD's people, even though they've left his land.'

The LORD laid his hand on me and brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD to the middle of a valley that was filled with bones.

He led me here and there throughout the valley, and I was amazed to see that the surface of the entire valley was covered with myriads of very dry bones!

So I prophesied, just as I had been ordered to do so. Immediately there was a noise and a rattling and then all of a sudden the bones came together by themselves! Each bone came together, all of them attached together!

A message came to me from the LORD, and this is what it was:

It was because of their defilement and transgression that I treated them this way by hiding my presence from them.'"

God brought me in a series of visions to the land of Israel and placed me on top of a very high mountain, where to the south there was something that looked like the outline of a city.

That's where he took me. All of a sudden, there was a man whose appearance resembled glowing bronze! He had a measuring reed and line in his hand as he stood in the city gate.

All of a sudden, we were at the exterior wall that completely surrounded the Temple. The man whom I had observed held a measuring reed that was six cubits long as measured in cubits that were a cubit and a handbreadth long. As he measured the thickness of the wall, he measured out one reed. Its height was also one reed.

Each guardhouse measured one reed long and one reed wide, and the distance between each guardhouse was five cubits. The threshold of the gate near the vestibule facing away from the Temple entrance measured one reed.

It was equipped with three guardhouses on each side. Its side pillars and porches had measurements identical to the first gate: 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.

Then he led me toward the south, where there was a gate with side pillar and porch measurements identical to the others.

The gate and its porches contained windows all around, identical to the other windows. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits.

The measurements of its guardhouses, its side pillars, and its porches were identical to the others. The gate and its porches contained windows all around. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits.

The measurement of its guardhouses, side pillars, and porches was identical to the others. The gate and its porches contained windows all around. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits,

The measurement of its guardhouses, side pillars, and porches was identical to the others. The gate and its porches contained windows all around. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits,

There was a chamber with a doorway by the side pillars next to the gate where they prepare the burnt offerings.

From outside leading into the inner gate there were chambers for the choir. One was beside the north gate facing the south, and another was at the south gate facing the north.

The porch was 20 cubits long and eleven cubits wide. The stairway by which it was ascended was equipped with columns attached to its side pillars, one on each side.

The entrance was ten cubits wide and its door jambs were five cubits wide on each side. He measured the length of the nave at 40 cubits and its width at 20 cubits.

Then he went inside and measured the door jambs at two cubits wide and the doorway at six cubits high. The doorway was seven cubits wide.

The outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits thick, and there was an empty space between the Temple's side chambers

The side chamber doorway facing the free space contained a single north-facing doorway and a second south-facing doorway. The width of the free space was five cubits all around the perimeter.

The building that faced the west side of the courtyard was 70 cubits wide, and the building's wall was five cubits thick all around. It was 90 cubits long.

Then he measured the Temple. It was 100 cubits long, and the courtyard, its building, and its walls were 100 cubits long.

The door posts of the main sanctuary were square. Each door post was identical in appearance to the others.

The altar was made of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. He told me, "This table stands in the LORD's presence."

The doors of the nave had carvings engraved on them, consisting of cherubim and palm trees identical to those on the walls. The front of the exterior porch was equipped with a wooden threshold.