New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Vision of Four Figures

1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifthdayof the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

2 (On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile,

3 the word of the Lordcame expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lordcame upon him.)

4 As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.

5 Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.

6 Each of them had four faces and four wings.

7 Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze.

8 Under their wings on their four sideswerehuman hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

9 their wings touched one another;their facesdid not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.

10 As for the form of their faces,eachhad the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.

11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching anotherbeing,and two covering their bodies.

12 And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.

13 In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.

14 And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.

15 Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, foreach ofthe four of them.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their workmanshipwaslike sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanshipbeingas if one wheel were within another.

17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved.

18 As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about.

19 Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rosealso.

20 Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beingswasin the wheels.

21 Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beingswasin the wheels.

Vision of Divine Glory

22 Now over the heads of the living beingsthere wassomething like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads.

23 Under the expanse their wingswere stretched outstraight, one toward the other; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other.

24 I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

25 And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up,wasa figure with the appearance of a man.

27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; andthere wasa radiance around Him.

28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, sowasthe appearance of the surrounding radiance. Suchwasthe appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I sawit,I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/1-a2343b8874dc4eb29f330114d39c2692.mp3?version_id=100—

The Prophet’s Call

1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!”

2 As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heardHimspeaking to me.

3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.

4 I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’

5 As for them, whether they listen or not-for they are a rebellious house-they will know that a prophet has been among them.

6 And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house.

7 But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

8 “Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

9 Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scrollwasin it.

10 When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/2-34d2080aa6eec8ea446c429e5f3226b6.mp3?version_id=100—

Ezekiel’s Commission

1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.

3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.

5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language,butto the house of Israel,

6 nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you;

7 yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.

8 Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

9 Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.”

10 Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and listen closely.

11 Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘Thus says the Lord God.'”

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of the Lordin His place.”

13 And Iheardthe sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound.

14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the Lordwas strong on me.

15 Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.

16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lordcame to me, saying,

17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.

18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

19 Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.

20 Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

21 However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”

22 The hand of the Lordwas on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.”

23 So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the Lordwas standing there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.

24 The Spirit then entered me and made me stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house.

25 As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them.

26 Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house.

27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/3-304db9099331ffa02e61fadbb60dffc6.mp3?version_id=100—

Siege of Jerusalem Predicted

1 “Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem.

2 Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around.

3 Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

4 “As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it.

5 For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time,buton your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year.

7 Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it.

8 Now behold, I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Defiled Bread

9 “But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days.

10 Your food which you eatshall betwenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time.

11 The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time.

12 You shall eat it as a barley cake, having bakeditin their sight over human dung.”

13 Then the Lordsaid, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will banish them.”

14 But I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth.”

15 Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.”

16 Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in horror,

17 because bread and water will be scarce; and they will be appalled with one another and waste away in their iniquity.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/4-a3fb4b31ea5b322273ff9767d5b13b03.mp3?version_id=100—

Jerusalem’s Desolation Foretold

1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use itasa barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair.

2 One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strikeitwith the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

3 Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of yourrobes.

4 Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

5 “Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her.

6 But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’

7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround youandhave not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’

8 therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

9 And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again.

10 Therefore, fathers will eattheirsons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.

11 So as I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.

12 One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

13 ‘Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.

14 Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by.

15 So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

16 When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread.

17 Moreover, I will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the Lord, have spoken.'”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/5-de8b3357cf3bbb7e4302233d8a5732f1.mp3?version_id=100—

Idolatrous Worship Denounced

1 And the word of the Lordcame to me saying,

2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them

3 and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord Godto the mountains, the hills, the ravines and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 So your altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols.

5 I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

6 In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

8 “However, I will leave a remnant, for you will have those who escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the countries.

9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.

10 Then they will know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them.”‘

11 “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Clap your hand, stamp your foot and say, “Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by sword, famine and plague!

12 He who is far off will die by the plague, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus will I spend My wrath on them.

13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree and under every leafy oak-the places where they offered soothing aroma to all their idols.

14 So throughout all their habitations I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and waste than the wilderness toward Diblah; thus they will know that I am the Lord.”‘”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/6-4ca459b88d9a251a0fb9e5fc54d9119d.mp3?version_id=100—

Punishment for Wickedness Foretold

1 Moreover, the word of the Lordcame to me saying,

2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord Godto the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.

3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you.

4 For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spareyou,but I will bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will know that I am the Lord!’

5 “Thus says the Lord God, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming!

6 An end is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come!

7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near-tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.

8 Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations.

9 My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.

10 ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming!Yourdoom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed.

11 Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of themshall remain,none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them.

12 The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude.

13 Indeed, the seller will not regain what he sold as long as theybothlive; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.

14 ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all their multitude.

15 The sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city.

16 Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each over his own iniquity.

17 All hands will hang limp and all knees will becomelikewater.

18 They will gird themselves with sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shamewill beon all faces and baldness on all their heads.

19 They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned

20 They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominationsandtheir detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them.

21 I will give it into the hands of the foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it.

22 I will also turn My face from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it.

23 ‘Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.

24 Therefore, I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned.

25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none.

26 Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will beaddedto rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders.

27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the Lord.'”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/7-ba52eefe1956ccb29204470784b1682f.mp3?version_id=100—

Vision of Abominations in Jerusalem

1 It came about in the sixth year, on the fifthdayof the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord Godfell on me there.

2 Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downwardthere wasthe appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal.

3 He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the innercourt,where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, waslocated.

4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israelwasthere, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

5 Then He said to me, “Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gatewasthis idol of jealousy at the entrance.

6 And He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations 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.”

7 Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance.

9 And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.”

10 So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beastsanddetestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.

11 Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising.

12 Then 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, ‘The Lorddoes not see us; the Lordhas forsaken the land.'”

13 And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”

14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’shouse whichwastoward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

15 He said to me, “Do you seethis,son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 Then He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’shouse. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar,wereabout twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lordand their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.

17 He said to me, “Do you seethis,son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose.

18 Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/8-76dcfb39f7fc284a2bcfebae9f7f4d4a.mp3?version_id=100—

The Vision of Slaughter

1 Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.”

2 Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up 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 loins was the writing case.

4 The Lordsaid to him, “Go through the midst of the city,eventhrough the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”

5 But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare.

6 Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders whowerebefore the temple.

7 And He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” Thus they went out and struck downthe peoplein the city.

8 As they were strikingthe peopleand Ialonewas left, I fell on my face and cried out saying, “Alas, Lord God! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

9 Then He said to me, “The iniquity 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 Lordhas forsaken the land, and the Lorddoes 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 loins was the writing case reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/9-0bbc1bd5ff05a6224e07a38daca9fcbb.mp3?version_id=100—