Dual Panel1ON the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, as I was sitting at home and the elders of Judah were sitting with me, suddenly I felt the power of the Lord GOD come upon me.
2I saw what looked like a man; from the waist down he seemed to be all fire and from the waist up to shine and glitter like brass.
3He stretched out what appeared to be a hand and took me by the forelock. In a vision from God a spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, carried me to Jerusalem, and put me down at the entrance to the inner gate facing north, where stands the idolatrous image which arouses God's indignation.
4The glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision I had seen in the plain.
5The LORD said to me, “O man, look northwards.” I did so, and there to the north of the Altar Gate, at the entrance, was that idolatrous image.
6“O man,” he said, “do you see what they are doing? The monstrous abominations which the Israelites practise here are making me abandon my sanctuary, and you will see even greater abominations.”
7Then he brought me to the entrance of the court, where I saw that there was a hole in the wall.
8“O man,” he said to me, “dig through the wall.” I did so, and made an opening.
9“Go in,” he said, “and see the vile abominations they practise here.”
10I went in and saw figures of creeping things, beasts, and vermin, and all the idols of the Israelites, carved round the walls.
11Standing in front of them were seventy elders of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the middle, and each held a censer from which rose the fragrant smoke of incense.
12He said to me, “O man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in darkness, each at the shrine of his own carved image? They think that the LORD does not see them, that he has forsaken the land.
13You will see even greater abominations practised by them,” he said.
14Next he brought me to the gateway of the LORD's house which faces north; and there sat women wailing for Tammuz.
15“O man, do you see that?” he asked me. “But you will see greater abominations than these.”
16So he brought me to the inner court of the LORD's house, and there, by the entrance to the sanctuary of the LORD, between porch and altar, were some twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary and their faces to the east, prostrating themselves to the rising sun.
17He said to me, “O man, do you see that? Do you think it a trifling matter for Judah to practise these abominations here? They have filled the land with violence and have provoked me to anger again and again. Look at them at their worship, holding twigs to their noses.
18I shall turn on them in my rage and show them no pity, nor spare them. Loudly though they cry to me, I shall not listen.”