A year and two months later, the Spirit lifts Ezekiel in a vision to Jerusalem's temple. He sees idols, elders burning incense to images, women weeping for Tammuz and men worshipping the sun, all showing why God must act.
1 And it came to pass in the sixth year , in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month , as I sat in mine house , and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
2 Then I beheld , and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire : from the appearance of his loins even downward , fire ; and from his loins even upward , as the appearance of brightness , as the colour of amber .
3 And he put forth the form of an hand , and took me by a lock of mine head ; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven , and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem , to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north ; where was the seat of the image of jealousy , which provoketh to jealousy .
4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain .
5 Then said he unto me, Son of man , lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north . So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north , and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry .
6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man , seest thou what they do ? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary ? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations .
7 And he brought me to the door of the court ; and when I looked , behold a hole in the wall .
8 Then said he unto me, Son of man , dig now in the wall : and when I had digged in the wall , behold a door .
9 And he said unto me, Go in , and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
10 So I went in and saw ; and behold every form of creeping things , and abominable beasts , and all the idols of the house of Israel , pourtrayed upon the wall round about .
11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel , and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan , with every man his censer in his hand ; and a thick cloud of incense went up .
12 Then said he unto me, Son of man , hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark , every man in the chambers of his imagery ? for they say , The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth .
13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do .
14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north ; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz .
15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man ? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16 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 .
17 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? for they have filled the land with violence , and have returned to provoke me to anger : and, lo, they put the branch to their nose .
18 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.