Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, {foxes tread on it}.

And it was in [the] thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month, and I [was] in the midst of the exiles by the {Kebar River}. The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

On the fifth [day] of the month--it was the fifth year of the exile of the king Jehoiachin--

the word of Yahweh {came} clearly to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of [the] Chaldeans at the {Kebar River}, and the hand of Yahweh was on him there.

And I looked, and look! A storm wind [was] coming from the north, a great cloud, and fire flashing back and forth, and brightness around [and] {within it}, and from its midst [it was] like [the] outward appearance of amber stone from the midst of the fire.

So [were] their faces; their wings [were] spread out {upward}; each [had] two touching one another and two covering their bodies.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance [was] like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. It [was] moving to and fro between the living creatures, and {the fire was very bright} and lightning [was] going out from the fire.

When they moved, they went toward their four sides; they did not {veer at all as they went}.

And at the going of the living creatures, the wheels next to them [also] went, and {when the creatures were lifted from the ground} the wheels [also] rose.

At their going, they go, and at their standing, they stood, and at their being lifted up from on the earth, the wheels rose, for the spirit of the living creatures [was] in the wheels.

Now [the] likeness above the heads of the living creatures [was] an expanse like the outward appearance of {awesome} {ice} spread out above their heads {upward}.

And under the expanse their wings [were stretched out] straight {one toward the other}; each had two [wings] covering them, and each had two [wings] covering their bodies.

And from above the expanse that [was] above their heads [there was] the likeness of a throne, {looking like a sapphire}, and above the likeness of the throne [was] a likeness similar to [the] appearance of a human on it, [but] {above it}.

And I saw [something] like [the] outward appearance of amber, [something] like [the] appearance of fire, [with] a covering around [it], from the likeness of his loins and {upward}. And from the likeness of his loins and {downward} I saw [something] like [the] appearance of fire, and {it was radiant all around}.

Like the appearance of a bow that is in the cloud on {a rainy day}, such [was] the radiance around it; [thus was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. And I saw, and I fell on my face, and I heard a voice speaking.

And [the] Spirit came into me as he was speaking to me, and it set me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.

And you, son of man, hear what I [am] speaking to you: you must not be rebellious like [the] house of rebellion. Open your mouth and eat what I [am] giving to you."

And I looked, and look! There was a hand stretched out to me, and look! In it [was] {a scroll with writing}.

And he rolled it out {before me}, and it [was] written [on the] front and back, and there [were] written on it laments and mourning and wailing.

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.

And [it was] the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching lightly {one against the other}, and the sound of the wheels beside them and [the] sound of a great earthquake.

And I went to the exiles [at] Tel Abib, who [were] dwelling near the {Kebar River}, and I sat [where] they [were] dwelling. I sat there seven days in the midst of them, stunned.

And then it happened at [the] end of seven days, {the word of Yahweh came} to me, saying,

And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and he said to me, "Rise up, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you."

And [the] Spirit came into me, and it made me stand on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, "Come, shut yourself {inside your house},

and you, son of man, look, they will place cords on you, and they will tie you up with them. Then you will not go out into the midst of them.

"Now, son of man, take for yourself a brick, and you must put it {before you}, and you must portray on it a city, Jerusalem.

And you must build against it siege works, and you must build against it bulwark, and you must heap against it a siege ramp, and you must set up against it camps and put against it a battering ram all around.

And take for yourself a plate of iron, and you must place it [as] a wall of iron between you and the city, and you must set your face against it, and it must be {under siege}, and you must lay the siege against it; it is a sign for the house of Israel.

And you, lie down on your left side, and you must put the guilt of the house of Israel on it. You will carry their guilt the number of days that you will lie on it.

When you have completed these, then you must lie a second [time] on your right side; and you must bear the guilt of the house of Judah forty days, a day for each year, a day for each year I give it to you.

And toward the siege of Jerusalem you must set your face and your bared arm; then you must prophesy against it.

"And you, take for yourself wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt, and you must put them in one vessel, and you must make them for yourself into a food [during] the number of days that you [are] lying on your side; three hundred and ninety days you shall eat it.

And your food that you will eat [will be] according to weight; twenty shekels for each day {at fixed times} you shall eat it.

And {an amount of water} you shall drink, a sixth of a hin; {at fixed times} you shall drink [it].

And [as a] bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and {with human excrement} you shall bake it before their eyes."

And Yahweh said, "Thus shall the {Israelites} eat their unclean food among the nations {where I will scatter them}."

And he said to me, "See I will give you {cattle manure} in the place of the feces of a human, and you may prepare your food on it."

And he said to me, "Son of man, look, I [am] going to break the {supply} of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, {anxiously}, and {rationed water}, and they will drink with horror,

"And you, son of man, take for yourself a sword, sharp [as] {a barber's razor}. Take it for yourself, and you must cause [it] to pass over your head and over your beard, and you must take for yourself a set of scales for weighing, and you must divide them.

A third you must burn with fire in the midst of the city at {the completion} of the days of the siege, and you must take a third, and you must strike [it] with the sword around it, and a third you must scatter to the wind, and I will draw a sword behind them.

And from them again you shall take [some], and you must throw them in the middle of the fire, and you must burn them with fire; from it a fire will go out to all of the house of Israel.

Therefore parents will eat children in the midst of you, and children will eat their parents, and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind.

And it will be [an] object of taunting and [an] object of mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations that [are] around you whenever I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in furious punishments! I, Yahweh, have spoken!

And you will know that I [am] Yahweh {when their slain ones are in the midst of their idols} around their altars at every high hill, on the tops of all the mountains and under every green tree and under every leafy oak--the place [at] which they gave pleasing scent for all of their idols.

And I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland from the desert to Riblah in all of their dwellings, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh." '"

[The] end comes, comes the end! It has awakened against you! Look! [It] comes!

{Soon} I will pour out my rage on you, and I will fully vent my anger on you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all of your detestable things.

Look! The day is coming; doom goes out, the staff blossoms, pride sprouts.

For the seller will not return to the merchandise {while they are still alive}, for the vision [is] about all of its multitude; it will not change, and a man because of his guilt will not be able to hold onto his life.

All of the hands will hang limp, and all of {the knees will be wet with urine}.

" 'And the beauty of its ornament {he made into a prideful thing} and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them.

And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it.

And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured [place], and violent ones will enter and defile it.

Make a chain for the land; it is full of {bloody crimes} and the city is full of violence.

And he sent out [the] form of a hand, and he took me by a lock of hair of my head, and [the] Spirit lifted me between earth and heaven, and it brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God to the doorway of [the] inner gate {that faced north}, [at] which there [was] the seat of the image of jealousy, which was making jealous.

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.

And he said to me, "Son of man, "{Do you see} what they [are] doing--great detestable things that the house of Israel [is] committing here [so as] to drive [me] from my sanctuary, and yet {you will see again} greater detestable things."

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel [are] doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for [they are] saying, 'Yahweh [is] not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.'"

And he brought me to the inner courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and look, [at] the doorway of the temple of Yahweh, between the portico and the altar, [there were] about twenty-five men [with] their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east, and they [were] bowing down toward the east before the sun.

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man? {Was it too small a thing} for the house of Judah {to do} the detestable things that they did here? For they filled up the land [with] violence, and {they provoked me to anger again}, and look! They [are] putting the branch to their nose.

And look! Six men coming from the way of {the upper gate} that faced {northward}, and each [with] his weapon for shattering in his hand; and one man [was] in the midst of them, dressed in linen, and the writing case of the scribe [was] at his side. And they came and stood beside the bronze altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel lifted itself up from upon the cherub that he was on [and went] to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man who [was] clothed in linen {with a scribal writing case at his side}.

And he said to them, "Defile the house and fill the courtyards [with] the dead; go out! And they went out, and they killed in the city.

{And then} {as they were striking}, and I [was] left behind, I fell on my face, and I cried out, and I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! "[Will] you [be] destroying all of the remnant of Israel {while you pour out your rage} on Jerusalem?"

And look! The man clothed in linen [and] {with a writing case at his side} [was] bringing back a word, {saying}, "I have done all that you commanded me."

And I looked, and look! On the expanse that [was] above the head of the cherubim [something] like a stone of sapphire, [and] like [the] appearance of [the] shape of a throne it appeared above them.

And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard {as far as} the outer courtyard; [it was] like the voice of God Shaddai {when he speaks}.

And then at his command to the man clothed in linen, {saying}, "Take fire from among the wheel area from among the cherubim," he went and stood beside the wheel.

Then the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim toward the fire that [was] among the cherubim, and he lifted up and gave [it] into the hollow of the hand of [the man] clothed with linen, and he took [it], and he went out.

{When they went} to the four of their directions [that] they went, they did not change direction {when they went}, for the place [to] which the head turned, they went behind him; they did not change direction at their going.

And the cherubim rose; that is, the living creatures that I saw at the {Kebar River}.

{When they stood}, they stood, and at their rising, they rose with them, for the spirit of the living creatures [was] in them.

And the glory of Yahweh went out from the threshold of the temple, and it stood above the cherubim.

And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and they rose from the earth before my eyes. At their going out, the wheels [were] beside them. And he stood [at] the doorway of the eastern gate of the temple of Yahweh, and the glory of the God of Israel {was over them}.

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 the likeness of their faces, they [were] the faces that I saw at the {Kebar River}; [thus was] their appearance, and they each went {straight ahead}.

And [the] Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people.

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.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they [are] the flesh, and it is [the] pot, and I will bring you out from its midst.

"And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into [the] hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you.

By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh.

It will not be as a pot to you, and [so] you would be in the midst of it as flesh, [for] at the border of Israel I will judge you.

And it happened [that] {as I was prophesying}, Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried [with] a loud voice, and I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, you [are] making complete destruction [of] the remnant of Israel!"

"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.'

Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Though I have removed them [far away] among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them [for a] little while in the countries {to which they have gone}.'"

And [when] they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it.

And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood [still] on the mountain that [is] to the east of the city.

And [the] Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles, in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen {left me}.

And you must bring out your baggage like [the] baggage of an exile by day before their eyes, and you must go out in the evening before their eyes like {those who go into exile}.

Before their eyes dig through for yourself, through the wall, and you must bring [the baggage] out through it.

And I did {just as} I was commanded; my baggage, like [the] baggage of an exile, I brought out by day, and in the evening I dug through for myself into the wall with my hand in the dusk; I brought [the baggage] on [my] shoulder; I carried [it] before their eyes.

"Son of man, did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, 'What [are] you doing?'

Say, 'I am your sign, [and] {just as} I did, so will it be done to them in the exile; into captivity they will go.'

And the prince who [is] in the midst of them, on [his] shoulder he will carry [the baggage] in the dusk, and he will go out; {the wall will be dug through} to bring him through it; and he will cover his face so that he will not see the land with his eye.

And I will spread out my net on him, and he will be captured in my hunting snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

"Son of man, you must eat your food with trembling, and your water with shuddering, and with anxiety you must drink.

And you must say to the people of the land, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the inhabitants of Jerusalem about the land of Israel: "They will eat their food with anxiety and their water they will drink with horror, because their land will be desolate from its fullness because of all the violence of {those who are dwelling in it}.