Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 339
7:23–8:6
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327
“Prepare chains for my people,
for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes.
Jerusalem is filled with violence.
I will bring the most ruthless of nations
to occupy their homes.
I will break down their proud fortresses
and defile their sanctuaries.
Terror and trembling will overcome my people.
They will look for peace but not find it.
Calamity will follow calamity;
rumor will follow rumor.
They will look in vain
for a vision from the prophets.
They will receive no teaching from the priests
and no counsel from the leaders.
The king and the prince will stand helpless,
weeping in despair,
and the people’s hands
will tremble with fear.
I will bring on them
the evil they have done to others,
and they will receive the punishment
they so richly deserve.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Then on September 17, during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin’s captiv
ity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign Lord took
hold of me. I saw a figure that appeared to be a man. From what appeared
to be his waist down, he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up
he looked like gleaming amber. He reached out what seemed to be a hand
and took me by the hair. Then the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and
transported me to Jerusalem in a vision from God. I was taken to the north
gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple, where there is a large idol that
has made the Lord very jealous. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel
was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley.
Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I
looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate near the
altar, stood the idol that had made the Lord so jealous.
“Son of man,” he said, “do you see what they are doing? Do you see the
detestable sins the people of Israel are committing to drive me from my
