Ezekial 9 – 10

Those Without the Mark Are Put to Death

Ezekial 9

¹ Then he called out with a loud voice in my hearing, “Bring the supervisors of the city here, each one of them with his weapon of destruction in his hand.” ² Then I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces north, each with his weapon, a war club, in his hand. There was also one man in the middle, dressed in linen, with a scribe’s kit at his waist. They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Now the Glory of the God of Israel ascended from above the cherub, over whom it had been standing, and moved to the threshold of the temple building. He called out to the man who was dressed in linen, who had the scribe’s kit at his waist. ⁴ The Lord said to him, “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a cross mark ^[1] on the foreheads of those who moan and lament over the abominations being committed in her.” ⁵ To the others he said in my hearing, “Follow him through the city and strike the people down. Do not let your eye show pity, and do not have compassion. ⁶ Old men and young men, virgins, little children, and women—you are to keep killing until you wipe them out completely. But do not go near anyone who has been marked with the cross. You are to begin at my sanctuary.”

So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple. ⁷ Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went and struck them down throughout the city.

⁸ While they were striking them down, I was left alone and I fell facedown and cried out, “Oh, Lord God! Are you going to destroy everyone who is left in Israel, as you pour out your wrath upon Jerusalem?” ⁹ He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great. The land is filled with bloodshed, and the city is full of injustice, because they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land’ and ‘The Lord does not see.’ ¹⁰ But I am determined that my eye will show no pity, and I will have no compassion. I will bring down their conduct on their own heads.” ¹¹ Just then, I saw the man dressed in linen, who had the scribe’s kit at his waist. He was reporting, “I have done just as you commanded me.”

The Glory Is Seen Again

Ezekial 10

¹ Then I looked, and there, above the vaulted ceiling ^[2] that was over the heads of the cherubim, there was something that looked like a sapphire, shaped like a throne. It could be seen above the cherubim. ² The Lord ^[3] said to the man dressed in linen, “Reach into the structure for the wheels that is beneath the cherubim, fill your cupped hands with fiery coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” So he went in while I watched.

³ Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple while he, the man, approached, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the Glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was full of the radiance of the Glory of the Lord. ⁵ The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far away as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶ When he commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim,” the man went and stood beside the wheel. ⁷ Then a cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim and reached into the fire that was between the cherubim. He lifted up some coals, and he put them into the cupped hands of the man dressed in linen, and the man took them and went out.

⁸ The cherubim had something that seemed like the form of a human hand under their wings.

⁹ Then I looked, and right there beside the cherubim were four wheels, one wheel beside each cherub, and the wheels looked like topaz. ¹⁰ The four of them all looked alike—there was a wheel inside each wheel. ^{[4] 11} The cherubim could move in any of the four directions toward which one of them faced, without turning as they moved. They went straight ahead in the direction they faced, never turning from side to side. ^[5]

¹² Their entire body, their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around. (I mean the wheels that belonged to the four of them.) ¹³ As for the wheels, they were called “wheelwork” ^[6] in my hearing.

¹⁴ Each one of the cherubim had four faces. One face was the face of a cherub. ^[7] The second face was the face of a man. The third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the cherubim rose. These were the living creatures that I had seen by the Kebar Canal. ¹⁶ Whenever the cherubim moved, the wheels moved alongside them, and whenever the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not turn away from their side. ¹⁷ When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still, and when the cherubim rose, the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

¹⁸ Then the Glory of the Lord moved out from the threshold of the temple and took a position above the cherubim. ¹⁹ As I watched, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose from the ground. As they went out, the wheels remained beside them. They ^[8] stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the House of the Lord, and the Glory of the God of Israel was above the cherubim. ²⁰ These were the living creatures that I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Kebar Canal, and I now knew that they were cherubim. ²¹ Each one had four faces, and each had four wings, with something like the hands of a man underneath their wings. ²² The faces looked like the faces that I had seen by the Kebar Canal—exactly the same. Each one went straight ahead.