Ezekiel 8:3-16

3He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the 1Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the 2north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which 3provokes to jealousy, was located. 4And behold, the 4glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

5Then He said to me, “Son of man, 5raise 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 6idol of jealousy at the entrance. 6And He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great 7abominations 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.”

7Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8He said to me, “Son of man, now 8dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. 9And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.” 10So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 11Standing in front of them were 9seventy 10elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his 11censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. 12Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘12The Lord does not see us; the Lord has 13forsaken the land.’” 13And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”

14Then He brought me to the entrance of the 14gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

16Then He brought me into the inner court 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 15backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and 16they were 17prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.