Study Desk

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

"Son of man, set your face toward the ^(C1)mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them

and say, 'Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord ^(F1)GOD! This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says to the mountains, the hills, the ravines, and the valleys: "Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword against you, and ^(C1)I will destroy your high places.

"So your ^(C1)altars will become deserted and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols.

"I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your ^(C1)bones around your altars.

"^(F1)Everywhere you live, ^(C1)cities will be in ruins and the high places will be deserted, so that your altars will be in ruins and ^(F2)deserted, your ^(C2)idols will be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars will be cut down, and your works wiped out.

"The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

"However, I will leave a ^(C1)remnant, in that you will have those who ^(C2)escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the countries.

"Then those of you who escape will ^(C1)remember Me among the nations to which they will be taken captive, how I have ^(F1)(C2)been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which committed infidelity with their idols; and they will ^(C3)loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.

"Then they will know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them."'

"This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says: 'Clap your hands, ^(C1)stamp your foot and say, "^(C2)Woe, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by the ^(C3)sword, famine, and plague!

"Anyone who is ^(C1)far away will die by the plague, anyone who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who remains and is spared from these will die by the famine. So I will ^(C2)expend My wrath on them.

"Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their ^(C1)dead are among their idols around their altars, on ^(C2)every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every leafy tree and under every massive oak with thick branches—the places where they offered a soothing aroma to all their idols.

"So through all their dwelling places I will ^(C1)stretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and waste than the wilderness toward Diblah; so they will know that I am the LORD."'"

Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

"And you, son of man, this is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says to the land of Israel: 'An ^(C1)end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.

'Now the end is upon you, for I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and ^(F1)bring all your abominations upon you.

'And My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will ^(F1)(C1)bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will ^(C2)know that I am the LORD!'

"This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says: 'A ^(C1)disaster, a unique disaster, behold, it is coming!

'An end ^(F1)is coming; the end has come! It has ^(C1)awakened against you; behold, it has come!

'Your ^(F1)doom has come to you, you inhabitant of the land. The ^(C1)time has come, the ^(C2)day is near—panic rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.

'Now I will shortly ^(C1)pour out My wrath on you and expend My anger against you; I will ^(C2)judge you according to your ways and ^(F1)bring on you all your abominations.

'My eye will have no pity nor will I spare you. I will ^(F1)repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, am striking.

'Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your ^(F1)doom has gone forth; the ^(C1)rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed.

'Violence ^(F1)has grown into a rod of ^(C1)wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their ^(F2)people, none of their ^(C2)wealth, nor anything eminent among them.

'The ^(C1)time has come, the day has arrived. Let neither the ^(C2)buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for ^(C3)wrath is against all their multitude.

'Indeed, the seller will not ^(F1)(C1)regain ^(F2)what he sold as long as ^(F3)they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not ^(F4)be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his wrongdoing.

'They have ^(C1)blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all ^(F1)their multitude.

'The ^(C1)sword is outside the city and the plague and the famine are within. Anyone who is in the field will die by the sword, while famine and the plague will consume those in the city.

'Even when their survivors ^(C1)escape, they will be on the mountains like ^(C2)doves of the valleys, all of them ^(C3)moaning, each over his own wrongdoing.

'All ^(C1)hands will hang limp, and all ^(F1)knees will drip with water.

'They will ^(C1)put on sackcloth and ^(C2)shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces, and a ^(F1)(C3)bald patch on all their heads.

'They will ^(C1)fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their ^(C2)silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their ^(F1)appetite, nor can they fill their stomachs, because their wrongdoing has become a cause of stumbling.

'Moreover, they transformed the splendor of His jewels into pride, and ^(C1)they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them.

'And I will hand it over to the ^(C1)foreigners as plunder, and to the wicked of the earth as spoils; and they will profane it.

'I will also turn My ^(C1)face away from them, and they will profane My treasure; then robbers will enter and profane it.

'^(C1)Make the ^(F1)chain, for the land is full of ^(F2)(C2)bloody crimes, and the city is ^(C3)full of violence.

'Therefore, I will bring the worst of the ^(C1)nations, and they will take possession of their houses. I will also put an end to the ^(C2)pride of the strong ones, and their ^(C3)holy places will be profaned.

'When anguish comes, they will seek ^(C1)peace, but there will be none.

'^(C1)Disaster will come upon disaster and ^(C2)rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a ^(C3)vision from a prophet, but the ^(C4)Law will be lost from the priest, and ^(C5)counsel from the elders.

'The king will mourn, the prince will be ^(C1)clothed in horror, and the hands of the people of the land will ^(F1)tremble. I will deal with them because of their conduct, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the LORD.'"

Now it came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord ^(F1)GOD fell upon me there.

Then I looked, and behold, something like the appearance of ^(F1)a man; from His waist and downward there was the ^(C1)appearance of fire, and from His waist and upward like the appearance of a glow, like ^(C2)gleaming ^(F2)metal.

And He extended the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the ^(C1)Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the ^(F1)north gate of the inner courtyard, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which ^(C2)provokes to jealousy, was located.

And behold, the ^(C1)glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

Then He said to me, "Son of man, ^(C1)raise your eyes now toward the north." So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this ^(C2)idol of jealousy at the entrance.

And He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great ^(C1)abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations!"

Then He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

And He said to me, "Son of man, now ^(C1)dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance.

Then He said to me, "Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here."

So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of crawling things and animals and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.

And standing in front of them were ^(C1)seventy ^(C2)elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his ^(C3)censer in his hand; and the fragrance of the cloud of incense was rising.

Then He said to me, "Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the rooms of his carved images? For they say, '^(C1)The LORD does not see us; the LORD has ^(C2)abandoned the land.'"

And He said to me, "Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing!"

Then He brought me to the entrance of the ^(C1)gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for ^(F1)Tammuz.

And He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these!"

Then He brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD'S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their ^(C1)backs to the temple of the LORD while their faces were toward the east; and ^(C2)they were ^(F1)prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.

And He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Is it a trivial thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have ^(C1)filled the land with violence and ^(C2)provoked Me to anger repeatedly? Yet behold, they are ^(F1)putting the twig to their nose!

"Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and ^(C1)though they cry out in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them."

Then He cried out in my ^(F1)presence with a loud ^(C1)voice, saying, "Come forward, you ^(F2)executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand."

And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his smashing weapon in his hand; and among them was ^(C1)one man clothed in linen with a scribe's kit at his waist. And they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

Then the ^(C1)glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the ^(F1)temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose waist was the scribe's kit.

And the LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and make a ^(C1)mark on the foreheads of the people who ^(C2)groan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst."

But to the others He said in my ^(F1)presence, "Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare.

"^(F1)Utterly ^(C1)kill old men, young men, female virgins, little children, and women, but do not ^(C2)touch any person on whom is the mark; and you shall ^(C3)start from My sanctuary." So they started with the ^(F2)elders who were before the ^(F3)temple.

He also said to them, "^(C1)Defile the ^(F1)temple and fill the courtyards with the dead. Go out!" So they went out and struck and killed the people in the city.

And as they were striking the people and I alone was left, I ^(C1)fell on my face and cried out, ^(F1)saying, "^(C2)Oh, Lord ^(F2)GOD! Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel ^(F3)by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?"

Then He said to me, "The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is ^(C1)filled with blood, and the city is ^(C2)full of perversion; for ^(C3)they say, 'The LORD has abandoned the land, and the LORD does not see!'

"But as for Me, ^(C1)My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but ^(C2)I will bring their conduct upon their heads."

Then behold, the man clothed in linen, at whose waist was the scribe's kit, ^(F1)reported, saying, "I have done just as You have commanded me."

Then I looked, and behold, in the ^(F1)(C1)expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a ^(C2)sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a ^(C3)throne, appeared above them.

And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, "Enter between the ^(C1)whirling wheels under the ^(F1)cherubim and fill your hands with ^(C2)coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." And he entered in my sight.

Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the ^(F1)temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the ^(C1)inner courtyard.

Then the ^(C1)glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the ^(C2)temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the ^(C3)brightness of the glory of the LORD.

Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the ^(C1)voice of ^(F1)God Almighty when He speaks.

And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, "Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim," he entered and stood beside a wheel.

Then the cherub reached out with his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some coals and put them into the hands of the one clothed in linen; and he took them and went out.

The cherubim appeared to have something like a human hand under their wings.

Then I looked, and behold, ^(C1)four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a ^(F1)(C2)Tarshish stone.

And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel.

When they moved, they went ^(C1)in any of their four ^(F1)directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which ^(F2)they faced, without turning as they went.

And their ^(C1)whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the ^(C2)wheels were ^(F1)covered with eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them.

The wheels were called, ^(F1)as I heard, the ^(F2)whirling wheels.

And ^(C1)each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a human, the third, the face of a lion, and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

Then the cherubim rose up. They are the ^(C1)living beings that I saw by the river Chebar.

Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would move beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels themselves would not turn away from beside them.

When ^(F1)the cherubim ^(C1)stood still, ^(F1)the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, ^(F1)the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.

Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood ^(C1)over the cherubim.

When ^(C1)the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the ground in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD'S house, and the glory of the God of Israel ^(F1)hovered over them.

These are the ^(C1)living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by ^(C2)the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim.

^(C1)Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands.

As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.