| Now the glory of the God
of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the
threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen,
who had the writer's inkhorn at his side; |
| and the Lord said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it." |
| To the others He said in my hearing, "Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. |
| "Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the temple. |
| Then He said to them, "Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!" And they went out and killed in the city. |
| So it was, that while
they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and
cried out, and said, "Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of
Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?" |
| Then He said to me, "The
iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the
land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they
say, 'The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!' |
| "And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head." |