Ezekiel’s Vision by the River Kebar

¹In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.

²On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—

³the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeansby the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.

The Four Living Creatures

⁴I looked and saw a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire was a gleam like amber,

⁵and within it was the form of four living creatures.And this was their appearance: They had a human form,

⁶but each had four faces and four wings.

⁷Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, gleaming like polished bronze.

⁸Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four living creatures had faces and wings,

⁹and their wings were touching one another. They did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.

¹⁰The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and also the face of an eagle.

¹¹Such were their faces.Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching the wings of the creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.

¹²Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they moved.

¹³In the midst of the living creatures was the appearance of glowing coals of fire, or of torches. Fire moved back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.

¹⁴The creatures were darting back and forth as quickly as flashes of lightning.

The Four Wheels

¹⁵When I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.

¹⁶The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel.

¹⁷As they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved.

¹⁸Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

¹⁹So as the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.

²⁰Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²¹When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

The Divine Glory

²²Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of an awesome expanse, gleaming like crystal.

²³And under the expanse, their wings stretched out toward one another. Each one also had two wings covering its body.

²⁴When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the roar of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty,like the tumult of an army.When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

²⁵And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood still with their wings lowered.

²⁶Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire, and on the throne high above was a figure like that of a man.

²⁷From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.

²⁸The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.

Seventy Years of Captivity

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

²So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:

³“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again,but you have not listened.

⁴And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again,but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

⁵The prophets told you, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and deeds, and you can dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

⁶Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’

⁷‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’

⁸Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destructionand make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

¹¹And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans,for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

¹³I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

¹⁵This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

¹⁶And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me,

¹⁸to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people;

²⁰all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

²¹Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

²²all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

²³Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;

²⁴all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert;

²⁵all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media;

²⁶all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshachwill drink it too.

²⁷“Then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’

²⁸If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it!

²⁹For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of Hosts.’

³⁰So you are to prophesy all these words against them and say to them:‘The LORD will roar from on high;He will raise His voice from His holy habitation.He will roar loudly over His pasture;like those who tread the grapes,He will call out with a shoutagainst all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹The tumult will resound to the ends of the earthbecause the LORD brings a charge against the nations.He brings judgment on all mankindand puts the wicked to the sword,’”declares the LORD.

³²This is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Behold! Disaster is spreadingfrom nation to nation;a mighty storm is risingfrom the ends of the earth.”

³³Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.

The Cry of the Shepherds

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.For the days of your slaughter have come;you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

³⁵Flight will evade the shepherds,and escape will elude the leaders of the flock.

³⁶Hear the cry of the shepherds,the wailing of the leaders of the flock,for the LORD is destroying their pasture.

³⁷The peaceful meadows have been silencedbecause of the LORD’s burning anger.

³⁸He has left His den like a lion,for their land has been made a desolationby the swordof the oppressor,and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

The Vision of Idolatry in the Temple

¹In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.

²Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright as the gleam of amber.

³He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.

⁴And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain.

⁵“Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.”So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar GateI saw this idol of jealousy.

⁶“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”

⁷Then He brought me to the entrance to the court, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall.

⁸“Son of man,” He told me, “dig through the wall.”So I dug through the wall and discovered a doorway.

⁹Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

¹⁰So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.

¹¹Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

¹²“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”

¹³Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”

¹⁴Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

¹⁷“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!

¹⁸Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”

Hear My Righteous Plea

¹Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea;listen to my cry.Give ear to my prayer—it comes from lips free of deceit.

²May my vindication come from Your presence;may Your eyes see what is right.

³You have tried my heart;You have visited me in the night.You have tested me and found no evil;I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.

⁴As for the deeds of men—by the word of Your lipsI have avoided the ways of the violent.

⁵My steps have held to Your paths;my feet have not slipped.

⁶I call on You, O God,for You will answer me.Incline Your ear to me;hear my words.

⁷Show the wonders of Your loving devotion,You who save by Your right handthose who seek refuge from their foes.

⁸Keep me as the apple ofYour eye;hide me in the shadow of Your wings

⁹from the wicked who assail me,from my mortal enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They have closed their callous hearts;their mouths speak with arrogance.

¹¹They have tracked us down, and now surround us;their eyes are set to cast us to the ground,

¹²like a lion greedy for prey,like a young lion lurking in ambush.

¹³Arise, O LORD, confront them!Bring them to their knees;deliver me from the wicked by Your sword,

¹⁴from such men, O LORD, by Your hand—from men of the worldwhose portion is in this life.May You fill the bellies of Your treasured onesand satisfy their sons,so they leave their abundance to their children.

¹⁵As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness;when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.