God’s Judgement

The Vision of Slaughter

9 Then He cried out in my presence with a loud voice, saying, “Come forward, you executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.”² And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his smashing weapon in his hand; and among them was one man clothed in linen with a scribe’s kit at his waist. And they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Then the glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose waist was the scribe’s kit. ⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and make a mark on the foreheads of the people who groan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” ⁵ But to the others He said in my presence, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. ⁶ Utterly kill old men, young men, female virgins, little children, and women, but do not touch any person on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple. ⁷ He also said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with the dead. Go out!” So they went out and struck and killed the people in the city. ⁸ And as they were striking the people and I alone was left, I fell on my face and cried out, saying, “Oh, Lord God! Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹ Then He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ ¹⁰ But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads.”

¹¹ Then behold, the man clothed in linen, at whose waist was the scribe’s kit, reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple

10 Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them. ² And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.

³ Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the glory of the Lordwent up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. ⁵ Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

⁶ And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel. ⁷ Then the cherub reached out with his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some coals and put them into the hands of the one clothed in linen; and he took themand went out. ⁸ The cherubim appeared to have something like a human hand under their wings.

⁹ Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a Tarshish stone. ¹⁰ And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel. ¹¹ When they moved, they went in any oftheir four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. ¹² And their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the wheels were covered with eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. ¹³ The wheels were called, as I heard, the whirling wheels. ¹⁴ And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a human, the third, the face of a lion, and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river Chebar. ¹⁶ Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would move beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels themselves would not turn away from beside them. ¹⁷ When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹ When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the ground in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.

²⁰ These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹ Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands. ²² As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.