And on the top of the arch which was over their heads was the form of a king's seat, like a sapphire stone; and on the form of the seat was the form of a man seated on it on high.

And I saw it coloured like electrum, with the look of fire in it and round it, going up from what seemed to be the middle of his body; and going down from what seemed to be the middle of his body I saw what was like fire, and there was a bright light shining round him.

And he said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to an uncontrolled nation which has gone against me: they and their fathers have been sinners against me even to this very day.

And they, if they give ear to you or if they do not give ear (for they are an uncontrolled people), will see that there has been a prophet among them.

And you, son of man, have no fear of them or of their words, even if sharp thorns are round you and you are living among scorpions: have no fear of their words and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your brow hard against their brows.

Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

And there was the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels at their side, the sound of a great rushing.

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel: so give ear to the word of my mouth, and give them word from me of their danger.

Again, when an upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, and I put a cause of falling in his way, death will overtake him: because you have given him no word of his danger, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, and there will be no memory of the upright acts which he has done; but I will make you responsible for his blood.

And the hand of the Lord was on me there; and he said, Get up and go out into the valley and there I will have talk with you.

Then I got up and went out into the valley; and I saw the glory of the Lord resting there as I had seen it by the river Chebar; and I went down on my face.

For I have had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children of Israel.

And let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a man.

And the Lord said, Even so the children of Israel will have unclean bread for their food among the nations where I am driving them.

And he said to me, Son of man, see, I will take away from Jerusalem her necessary bread: they will take their bread by weight and with care, measuring out their drinking-water with fear and wonder:

So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.

For this cause fathers will take their sons for food among you, and sons will make a meal of their fathers; and I will be judge among you, and all the rest of you I will send away to every wind.

A third of you will come to death from disease, wasting away among you through need of food; a third will be put to the sword round about you; and a third I will send away to every wind, letting loose a sword after them.

And I will send on you need of food and evil beasts, and they will be a cause of loss to you; and disease and violent death will go through you; and I will send the sword on you: I the Lord have said it.

And I will put the dead bodies of the children of Israel in front of their images, sending your bones in all directions about your altars.

And those of you who are kept safe will have me in mind among the nations where they have been taken away as prisoners, how I sent punishment on their hearts which were untrue to me, and on their eyes which were turned to their false gods: and they will be full of hate for themselves because of the evil things which they have done in all their disgusting ways.

This is what the Lord has said: Give blows with your hand, stamping with your foot, and say, O sorrow! because of all the evil and disgusting ways of the children of Israel: for death will overtake them by the sword and through need of food and by disease.

He who is far away will come to his death by disease; he who is near will be put to the sword; he who is shut up will come to his death through need of food; and I will give full effect to my passion against them.

And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images.

And my hand will be stretched out against them, making the land waste and unpeopled, from the waste land to Riblah, through all their living-places: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

Outside is the sword, and inside disease and need of food: he who is in the open country will be put to the sword; he who is in the town will come to his end through need of food and disease.

And they will put haircloth round them, and deep fear will be covering them; and shame will be on all faces, and the hair gone from all their heads.

They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin.

As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them.

For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.

Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace.

The king will give himself up to sorrow, and the ruler will be clothed with wonder, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will give them punishment for their ways, judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there.

And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum.

And I saw the glory of the Lord there, as in the vision which I saw in the valley.

So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall.

And before them seventy of the responsible men of the children of Israel had taken their places, every man with a vessel for burning perfumes in his hand, and in the middle of them was Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan; and a cloud of smoke went up from the burning perfume.

Then he took me to the door of the way into the Lord's house looking to the north; and there women were seated weeping for Tammuz.

And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east.

And six men came from the way of the higher doorway looking to the north, every man with his axe in his hand: and one man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer's inkpot at his side. And they went in and took their places by the brass altar.

The Lord said to him, Go through the town, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the brows of the men who are sorrowing and crying for all the disgusting things which are done in it.

And to these he said in my hearing, Go through the town after him using your axes: do not let your eyes have mercy, and have no pity:

And as for me, my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity, but I will send the punishment of their ways on their heads.

Then looking, I saw that on the arch which was over the head of the winged ones there was seen over them what seemed like a sapphire stone, having the form of a king's seat.

And I saw the form of a man's hands among the winged ones under their wings.

When they were moving, they went on their four sides without turning; they went after the head in the direction in which it was looking; they went without turning.

And when the winged ones went, the wheels went by their side: and when their wings were lifted to take them up from the earth, the wheels were not turned from their side.

When they were at rest in their place, these were at rest; when they were lifted up, these went up with them: for the spirit of life was in them.

And the winged ones, lifting up their wings, went up from the earth before my eyes, with the wheels by their side: and they came to rest at the east doorway of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.

Every one had four faces and every one had four wings; and hands like a man's hands were under their wings.

As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose form I saw by the river Chebar; when they went, every one of them went straight forward.

And they will come there, and take away all the hated and disgusting things from it.

And I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in them; and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh:

But as for those whose heart goes after their hated and disgusting things, I will send on their heads the punishment of their ways, says the Lord.

Then the wings of the winged ones were lifted up, and the wheels were by their side; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.

And you, O son of man, by day, before their eyes, get ready the vessels of one who is taken away, and go away from your place to another place before their eyes: it may be that they will see, though they are an uncontrolled people.

By day, before their eyes, take out your vessels like those of one who is taken away: and go out in the evening before their eyes, like those who are taken away as prisoners.

Make a hole in the wall, before their eyes, and go out through it.

And before their eyes, take your goods on your back and go out in the dark; go with your face covered: for I have made you a sign to the children of Israel.

And I did as I was ordered: I took out my vessels by day, like those of one who is taken away, and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with a tent-pin; and in the dark I went out, taking my things on my back before their eyes.

And the ruler who is among them will take his goods on his back in the dark and go out: he will make a hole in the wall through which to go out: he will have his face covered so that he may not be seen.

And my net will be stretched out on him, and he will be taken in my cords: and I will take him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldaeans; but he will not see it, and there death will come to him.

And they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I send them in flight among the nations, driving them out through the countries.

But a small number of them I will keep from the sword, from the need of food, and from disease, so that they may make clear all their disgusting ways among the nations where they come; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

And say to the people of the land, This is what the Lord has said about the people of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: They will take their food with care and their drink with wonder, so that all the wealth of their land may be taken from it because of the violent ways of the people living in it.

For there will be no more false visions or smooth use of secret arts in Israel.

Son of man, be a prophet against the prophets of Israel, and say to those prophets whose words are the invention of their hearts, Give ear to the word of the Lord;

Because, even because they have been guiding my people into error, saying, Peace; when there is no peace; and in the building of a division wall they put whitewash on it:

Say to those who put whitewash on it, There will be an overflowing shower; and you, O ice-drops, will come raining down; and it will be broken in two by the storm-wind.

For this reason, the Lord has said: I will have it broken in two by a storm-wind in my passion; and there will be an overflowing shower in my wrath, and you, O ice-drops, will come raining angrily down.

Even the prophets of Israel who say words to Jerusalem, who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord.

And you, son of man, let your face be turned against the daughters of your people, who are acting the part of prophets at their pleasure; be a prophet against them, and say,

And you have put me to shame among my people for a little barley and some bits of bread, sending death on souls for whom there is no cause of death, and keeping those souls living who have no right to life, by the false words you say to my people who give ear to what is false.

For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am against your bands with which you go after souls, and I will violently take them off their arms; and I will let loose the souls, even the souls whom you go after freely.

Then certain of the responsible men of Israel came to me and took their seats before me.

Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

So as to take the children of Israel in the thoughts of their hearts, because they have become strange to me through their false gods.

And the punishment of their sin will be on them: the sin of the prophet will be the same as the sin of him who goes to him for directions;

So that the children of Israel may no longer go wandering away from me, or make themselves unclean with all their wrongdoing; but they will be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord.

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, only themselves would they keep safe by their righteousness, says the Lord.

Or if I send evil beasts through the land causing destruction and making it waste, so that no man may go through because of the beasts:

Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves, and the land would be made waste.

Or if I send a sword against that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, cutting off from it man and beast:

Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves.

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep son or daughter safe; only themselves would they keep safe through their righteousness.

But truly, there will still be a small band who will be safe, even sons and daughters: and they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings: and you will be comforted about the evil which I have sent on Jerusalem, even about everything I have sent on it.

They will give you comfort when you see their ways and their doings: and you will be certain that not for nothing have I done all the things I have done in it, says the Lord.

And you took your robes of needlework for their clothing, and put my oil and my perfume before them.

And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing,

That you put my children to death and gave them up to go through the fire to them?

And you will be judged by me as women are judged who have been untrue to their husbands and have taken life; and I will let loose against you passion and bitter feeling.

I will give you into their hands, and your arched room will be overturned and your high places broken down; they will take your clothing off you and take away your fair jewels: and when they have done, you will be uncovered and shamed.

And they will get together a meeting against you, stoning you with stones and wounding you with their swords.

You are the daughter of your mother whose soul is turned in disgust from her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters who were turned in disgust from their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

Still you have not gone in their ways or done the disgusting things which they have done; but, as if that was only a little thing, you have gone deeper in evil than they in all your ways.

And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright.

And I will let their fate be changed, the fate of Sodom and her daughters, and the fate of Samaria and her daughters, and your fate with theirs.

And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will go back to their first condition, and Samaria and her daughters will go back to their first condition, and you and your daughters will go back to your first condition.

And there was another eagle with great wings and thick feathers: and now this vine, pushing out its roots to him, sent out its branches in his direction from the bed where it was planted, so that he might give it water.