Ezekiel 8; Ezekiel 9; Ezekiel 10; Hebrews 13

1 In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and Judah's elders were sitting with me, when the LORD God's power overcame me.

2 I looked, and there was a form that looked like fire. Below what looked like his waist was fire, but above his waist it looked like gold, like gleaming amber.

3 He stretched out the form of a hand and picked me up by the hair of my head. A wind lifted me up between earth and heaven, and in a divine vision it brought me to Jerusalem, to the north-facing entrance of the gate to the inner court. That was where the pedestal was for the outrageous image that incites outrage.

4 There I saw the glory of Israel's God, exactly like what I had seen in the valley.

5 He said to me: Human one, look toward the north. So I looked north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this outrageous image in the entrance.

6 He said to me: Human one, do you see what they are doing, the terribly detestable practices that the house of Israel is doing here that drive me far from my sanctuary? Yet you will see even more detestable practices than these.

7 Then he brought me to the court entrance. When I looked, I saw a hole in the wall.

8 He said to me: Human one, dig through the wall. So I dug through the wall, and I discovered a doorway.

9 And he said to me: Go in and see what wicked and detestable things they are doing in there.

10 So I went in and looked, and I saw every form of loathsome beasts and creeping things and all the idols of the house of Israel engraved on the walls all around.

11 The seventy elders of the house of Israel were standing in front of them, and all of them were holding censers in their hands. Jaazaniah, Shaphan's son, was standing right there with them, and the scent of the incense cloud rose up.

12 He said to me: Human one, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, every one of them in their rooms full of sculptured images? They say, "The LORD doesn't see us; the LORD has abandoned the land."

13 He said to me: You will see them performing even more detestable practices.

14 He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the temple, where women were sitting and performing the Tammuz lament.

15 He said to me: Human one, do you see? Yet you will see even more detestable practices than these.

16 He brought me to the inner court of the LORD's temple. There, at the entrance to the LORD's temple, between the porch and the altar, were twenty-five men facing toward the east with their backs to the LORD's temple. They were bowing to the sun in the east.

17 He said to me: Do you see, human one? Isn't it enough that the house of Judah has observed here all these detestable things? They have filled the land with violence, and they continue to provoke my fury. Look at them! They even put the branch to their noses!

18 I will certainly respond with wrath. I won't spare or pity anyone. Even though they call out loudly to me in my hearing, I won't listen to them.

1 Then in my hearing he called out loudly: Draw near, you guardians of the city, and bring your weapons of destruction!

2 Suddenly, six men came from the Upper Gate that faces north. All of them were holding weapons of destruction. Among them was another man who was dressed in linen and had a writing case at his side. When they came in and stood beside the bronze altar,

3 the glory of Israel's God rose from above the winged creatures where he had been and moved toward the temple's threshold. The LORD called to the man who was dressed in linen with the writing case at his side:

4 Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and mark the foreheads of those who sigh and groan because of all the detestable practices that have been conducted in it.

5 To the others he said in my hearing: Go through the city after him, and attack. Spare no one! Be merciless!

6 Kill them all, old men, young men and women, babies and mothers. Only don't touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the men, the elders in front of the temple.

7 He said to them: Make the temple unclean! Fill the courts with the slain! Go! And they went out and attacked the city.

8 While they were attacking, I was left alone. I fell on my face, and I cried out, "Oh, LORD God! When you pour out your wrath on Jerusalem, will you destroy all that is left of Israel?"

9 He said to me: “Judah and the house of Israel are very, very guilty. The land is filled with blood, and the city is full of injustice. They have said, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD sees nothing.'

10 I most definitely won't spare or pity anyone! I will hold them accountable for their ways.”

11 Just then the man who was dressed in linen with the writing case at his side returned and said, "I've done just as you commanded."

1 At that moment I saw a form of a throne in the dome above the heads of the winged creatures. It appeared above them, and it looked like lapis lazuli.

2 He said to the man clothed in linen: Go in between the wheels under the winged creatures. Fill your hands with fiery coals from between the winged creatures, and scatter them over the city. As I watched, he went in.

3 Now the winged creatures were standing to the right of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.

4 Then the LORD's glory rose from above the winged creatures and moved toward the temple's threshold. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the LORD's glory.

5 The sound of the winged creatures' wings could be heard as far as the outer courtyard. It was like the sound of God Almighty when he speaks.

6 When he instructed the man clothed in linen to take fire from between the winged creatures and their wheels, the man went and stood next to the wheel.

7 Then one of the winged creatures stretched a hand between the winged creatures into the fire that was between them, and he drew out some of it and set it in the palm of the one clothed in linen. He took it and went out.

8 It appeared that the winged creatures had the form of a human hand under their wings.

9 Suddenly, I saw four wheels next to the winged creatures. There was a wheel next to each winged creature, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling topaz.

10 It appeared that there was one shape for all four of them, as if one wheel were inside another.

11 When they moved in any of the four directions, they moved without swerving. Whichever way the leading one faced, they moved in that direction without swerving.

12 Their whole body—backs, hands, and wings—as well as their wheels, all four of them, were covered with eyes all around.

13 It was these wheels that were called "the wheels" in my hearing.

14 Each winged creature had four faces. The first face was that of a winged creature, the second face was that of a human being, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

15 The winged creatures rose up, the same creatures that I had seen at the Chebar River.

16 When the winged creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the winged creatures lifted their wings to ascend above the earth, the wheels remained beside them without swerving.

17 When they stood still, the wheels stood still; when they rose up, they rose up with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

18 Then the LORD's glory went out from above the temple's threshold and it stood over the winged creatures.

19 While I watched, the winged creatures raised their wings and rose from the ground to leave, with their wheels beside them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the temple, and the glory of Israel's God was up above them.

20 These were the same living creatures that I saw underneath Israel's God at the Chebar River, and I realized that they were winged creatures.

21 Each had four faces and four wings, with the form of a human hand under their wings.

22 The forms of their faces were the same faces that I saw at the Chebar River. Their appearance was also the same. All four of them moved straight ahead.

1 Keep loving each other like family.

2 Don't neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it.

3 Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.

4 Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery.

5 Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.

6 This is why we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, and I won't be afraid. What can people do to me?

7 Remember your leaders who spoke God's word to you. Imitate their faith as you consider the way their lives turned out.

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

9 Don't be misled by the many strange teachings out there. It's a good thing for the heart to be strengthened by grace rather than by food. Food doesn't help those who live in this context.

10 We have an altar, and those who serve as priests in the meeting tent don't have the right to eat from it.

11 The blood of the animals is carried into the holy of holies by the high priest as an offering for sin, and their bodies are burned outside the camp.

12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy with his own blood.

13 So now, let's go to him outside the camp, bearing his shame.

14 We don't have a permanent city here, but rather we are looking for the city that is still to come.

15 So let's continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.

16 Don't forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices.

17 Rely on your leaders and defer to them, because they watch over your whole being as people who are going to be held responsible for you. They need to be able to do this with pleasure and not with complaints about you, because that wouldn't help you.

18 Pray for us. We're sure that we have a good conscience, and we want to do the right thing in every way.

19 I'm particularly asking you to do this so that I can be returned to you quickly.

20 May the God of peace, who brought back the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, from the dead by the blood of the eternal covenant,

21 equip you with every good thing to do his will, by developing in us what pleases him through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory forever and always. Amen.

22 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to put up with this message of encouragement, since I've only written a short letter to you!

23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, we will travel together to see you.

24 Greet your leaders and all of God's holy people. The group from Italy greets you.

25 May grace be with all of you.