Study Desk

And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.

I will also turn My face from them, and they shall profane My secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.

Wherefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses; I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned.

Horror cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

Calamity shall come upon calamity, and rumour shall be upon rumour; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet, and instruction shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.

The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with appalment, and the hands of the people of the land shall be enfeebled; I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.'

And He said unto me: 'Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? but thou shalt again see yet greater abominations.'

And He said unto me: 'Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here.'

And He brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

Then He said unto me: 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here in that they fill the land with violence, and provoke Me still more, and, lo, they put the branch to their nose?

Therefore will I also deal in fury; Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.'

And, behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lieth toward the north, every man with his weapon of destruction in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn on his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.

slay utterly the old man, the young man and the maiden, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.' Then they began at the elders that were before the house.

And He said unto them: 'Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain; go ye forth.' And they went forth, and smote in the city.

And it came to pass, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said: 'Ah Lord GOD! wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?'

Then said He unto me: 'The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of wresting of judgment; for they say: The LORD hath forsaken the land, and the LORD seeth not.

And as for their appearance, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been within a wheel.

And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

When they stood, these stood, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.