Study Desk

So I got up and went out to the plain. The Lord’s glory was present there, like the glory I had seen by the Chebar Canal, and I fell facedown.

As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them so you cannot go out among them.

Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Face it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.

For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Be aware that I will put cords on you so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

So you will be a disgrace and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your shrines cut down, and what you have made wiped out.

So I will bring the most evil of nationsto take possession of their houses.I will put an end to the pride of the strong,and their sacred places will be profaned.

He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing here—more detestable acts that the house of Israel is committing—so that I must depart from my sanctuary? You will see even more detestable acts.”

He said to me, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and discovered a doorway.

So he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house, and there were about twenty-five men at the entrance of the Lord’s temple, between the portico and the altar, with their backs to the Lord’s temple and their faces turned to the east. They were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, as well as the children and older women, but do not come near anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.

Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out killing people in the city.

The Lord spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with blazing coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” So he went in as I watched.

You fear the sword, so I will bring the sword against you. This is the declaration of the Lord God.

so you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose ordinances you have not practiced. Instead, you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.’”

so that they will follow my statutes, keep my ordinances, and practice them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

And while they look on, lift the bags to your shoulder and take them out in the dark; cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”

So I did just as I was commanded. In the daytime I brought out my bags like an exile’s bags. In the evening I dug through the wall by hand; I took them out in the dark, carrying them on my shoulder in their sight.

The prince who is among them will lift his bags to his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He will cover his face so he cannot see the land with his eyes.