Ezekiel 8:1-11

1On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, I was sitting in my house. The leaders of Judah were sitting in front of me. While I sat there, the Almighty Lord took hold of me with great power.

2I looked up and I saw something that looked like a man. The lower part of his body looked like fire. Above that, his body looked like bright metal.

3He put out something in the shape of a hand. He took hold of the hair on my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up, high in the sky, and took me to Jerusalem. This happened in the vision which God gave to me. I came to the north gate of the temple's inside yard. In that place there was a disgusting idol that made God very angry.

4Then I saw that the bright glory of Israel's God was there. It was like the glory that I had seen beside the River Kebar.

5Then the Lord said to me, ‘Son of man, look up towards the north.’ When I looked, I saw the disgusting idol. It stood at the entrance, on the north side of the altar gate.

6He said to me, ‘Son of man, look at what they are doing! Israel's people are doing very disgusting things here. They are chasing me far away from my holy temple. But you will see even worse things than these.’

7Then the Lord took me to the entrance of the temple's yard. As I looked, I saw a hole in the wall.

8He said to me, ‘Son of man, make a hole through the wall here.’ So I dug into the wall. I found a door in it.

9He said to me, ‘Go in there. Look at the wicked things that they are doing in this place.’

10So I went in and I looked. I saw pictures of many things on the walls all around. There were pictures of snakes and other disgusting animals. There were also images of the things that Israel's people were worshipping.

1170 of Israel's leaders were there. Shaphan's son Jaazaniah, was also among them. Each of them held a pot to burn incense. The smell of the incense rose up above them.