Ezekiel 9:5-11

5While I listened, the Lord said to the other men, ‘Follow that man through the city. Kill people who do not have his mark on their heads. Do not be sorry for them. Do not be kind to them.

6Kill the old men, young men and girls. Kill the women and the children. Destroy them all! But do not touch anyone who has the mark on their head.’ So the men started to kill. The first people that they killed were the city's leaders who were in front of the temple.

7The Lord said to them, ‘Fill the yards of the temple with dead bodies! Make the temple an unclean place! Go and do it now!’ So they went out and they started to kill people everywhere in the city.

8I was alone while they were doing this. I bent down low with my face towards the ground. I called out, ‘Almighty Lord! Will you destroy all Israel's people who are still alive? Are you so angry with the people of Jerusalem that you will do that?’

9He answered me, ‘The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very great. They murder people everywhere in the land. In the city, nobody does what is right. They say, “The Lord has gone away from our land! The Lord does not see what we are doing!”

10So I will not be sorry for them. I will not be kind to them. Now I will punish them as they deserve for the things that they have done.’

11Then I saw again the man who was wearing linen clothes, with the box of pens. He brought this message to the Lord: ‘I have done what you commanded me to do.’