1In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting in front of me. There the hand of the Lord GOD came upon me.
2I looked, and I saw a figure that looked like fire. From what seemed to be his waist downward there was fire. From his waist upward he shone brightly, like glowing amber.
3He reached out what looked like a hand and took me by a lock of my hair. The spirit lifted me up between the earth and the sky, and in visions of God he brought me to Jerusalem. He brought me to the door of the inner gate that faces north, where the image of jealousy stood, the image that stirs up jealousy.
4And look, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as in the vision I had seen in the plain.
5Then he said to me, "Son of man, now look up toward the north." So I looked up toward the north, and there, north of the gate of the altar, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.
6He also said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing? Do you see the great and disgusting things that the house of Israel is doing here, to drive me far away from my sanctuary? But turn again, and you will see even worse things."
7He brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall.
8Then he said to me, "Son of man, dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall, and there was a door.
9And he said to me, "Go in, and see the wicked and disgusting things they are doing here."
10So I went in and looked. All over the wall around me were pictures of every kind of crawling thing and detestable animal, and all the idols of the house of Israel.
11Seventy of the elders of the house of Israel were standing in front of them, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each man had his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense was rising up.
12Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in the room of his own carved images? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us. The LORD has left the land.'"
13He also said to me, "Turn again, and you will see even worse things that they are doing."
14Then he brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD's house, and there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
15Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Turn again, and you will see things even worse than these."
16And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house. There, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men. Their backs were toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.
17Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a small thing to the house of Judah that they do the disgusting things they do here? For they have filled the land with violence, and they keep coming back to make me angry. And look, they put the branch to their nose."
18"So I too will act in fury. My eye will not spare them, and I will not have pity. Though they cry out in my ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them."