Study Desk

Good and bad each happen at the command of God Most High.

When we lift our hands in prayer to God in heaven, we should offer him our hearts and say,

Whenever the creatures flew, their wings roared like an ocean or a large army or even the voice of God All-Powerful. And whenever the creatures stopped, they folded their wings against their bodies.

They are stubborn and hardheaded. But I, the Lord God, have chosen you to tell them what I say.

Then go to the people who were brought here to Babylonia with you and tell them you have a message from me, the Lord God. Do this, whether they listen to you or not.

I said, " Lord God, please don't make me do that! Never in my life have I eaten food that would make me unacceptable to you. I've never eaten anything that died a natural death or was killed by a wild animal or that you said was unclean."

I am the Lord God, and I have made Jerusalem the most important place in the world, and all other nations admire it.

So tell the people of Jerusalem: I am the Lord God! You have refused to obey my laws and teachings, and instead you have obeyed the laws of the surrounding nations. You have become more rebellious than any of them!

The Lord God said:

The Lord God then said: Ezekiel, beat your fists together and stomp your feet in despair! Moan in sorrow, because the people of Israel have done disgusting things and now will be killed by enemy troops, or they will die from starvation and disease.

The Lord God said:

Six years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the leaders of Judah were meeting with me in my house. On the fifth day of the sixth month, the Lord God suddenly took control of me,

Then I saw the brightness of the glory of the God of Israel, just as I had seen it near the Chebar River.

God said to me, "Ezekiel, son of man, look north." And when I did, I saw that disgusting idol by the altar near the gate.

God then said, "Do you see the terrible sins of the people of Israel? Their sins are making my holy temple unfit as a place to worship me. Yet you will see even worse things than this."

God said, "Make this hole bigger." And when I did, I realized it was a doorway.

"Go in," God said, "and see what horrible and evil things the people are doing."

God said, "Ezekiel, do you see what horrible things Israel's leaders are doing in secret? They have filled their rooms with idols. And they say I can't see them, because they think I have already deserted Israel.

He took me to the north gate of the temple, where I saw women mourning for the god Tammuz.

God asked me, "Can you believe what these women are doing? But now I want to show you something worse."