Ezekiel: Part 1 - Temple & Core Beliefs

(1) King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Phoenician, and Hittite women, (2) from the nations of which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “None of you shall join them and none of them shall join you, lest they turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Such Solomon clung to and loved. (3) He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. (4) In his old age, his wives turned away Solomon’s heart after other gods, and he was not as wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God as his father David had been. (5) Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. (6) Solomon did what was displeasing to the LORD and did not remain loyal to the LORD like his father David. (7) At that time, Solomon built a shrine for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill near Jerusalem, and one for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. (8) And he did the same for all his foreign wives who offered and sacrificed to their gods. (9) The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (10) and had commanded him about this matter, not to follow other gods; he did not obey what the LORD had commanded. (11) And the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you are guilty of this—you have not kept My covenant and the laws which I enjoined upon you—I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. (12) But, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it away from your son. (13) However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give your son one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

(3) He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by the hair of my head. A spirit lifted me up between heaven and earth and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the Penimith Gate that faces north; that was the site of the infuriating image that provokes fury. (4) And the Presence of the God of Israel appeared there, like the vision that I had seen in the valley. (5) And He said to me, “O mortal, turn your eyes northward.” I turned my eyes northward, and there, north of the gate of the altar, was that infuriating image on the approach. (6) And He said to me, “Mortal, do you see what they are doing, the terrible abominations that the House of Israel is practicing here, to drive Me far from My Sanctuary? You shall yet see even greater abominations!” (7) Then He brought me to the entrance of the court; and I looked, and there was a hole in the wall. (8) He said to me, “Mortal, break through the wall”; so I broke through the wall and found an entrance. (9) And He said to me, “Enter and see the vile abominations that they are practicing here.” (10) I entered and looked, and there all detestable forms of creeping things and beasts and all the fetishes of the House of Israel were depicted over the entire wall. (11) Before them stood seventy men, elders of the House of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst. Everyone had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense smoke ascended. (12) Again He spoke to me, “O mortal, have you seen what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the darkness, everyone in his image-covered chamber? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has abandoned the country.’” (13) And He said to me, “You shall see even more terrible abominations which they practice.” (14) Next He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the House of the LORD; and there sat the women bewailing Tammuz. (15) He said to me, “Have you seen, O mortal? You shall see even more terrible abominations than these.” (16) Then He brought me into the inner court of the House of the LORD, and there, at the entrance to the Temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men, their backs to the Temple of the LORD and their faces to the east; they were bowing low to the sun in the east. (17) And He said to me, “Do you see, O mortal? Is it not enough for the House of Judah to practice the abominations that they have committed here, that they must fill the country with lawlessness and provoke Me still further and thrust the branch to their nostrils?

(1) The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD: (2) Stand at the gate of the House of the LORD, and there proclaim this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD! (3) Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell in this place. (4) Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD are these [buildings].” (5) No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one man and another; (6) if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt— (7) then only will I let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for all time. (8) See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail. (9) Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely, and sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not experienced, (10) and then come and stand before Me in this House which bears My name and say, “We are safe”?—[Safe] to do all these abhorrent things! (11) Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching—declares the LORD. (12) Just go to My place at Shiloh, where I had established My name formerly, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

(22) O mortal, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, that you say, “The days grow many and every vision comes to naught?” (23) Assuredly, say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD: I will put an end to this proverb; it shall not be used in Israel any more. Speak rather to them: The days draw near, and the fulfillment of every vision. (24) For there shall no longer be any false vision or soothing divination in the House of Israel.

And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. ...........................And they went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not when they went.

(1) In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of His robe filled the Temple. (2) Seraphs stood in attendance on Him. Each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his legs, and with two he would fly.
(3) And one would call to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy!
The LORD of Hosts!
His presence fills all the earth!”
(4) The doorposts would shake at the sound of the one who called, and the House kept filling with smoke. (5) I cried,
“Woe is me; I am lost!
For I am a man of unclean lips^-b
And I live among a people
Of unclean lips;
Yet my own eyes have beheld
The King LORD of Hosts.”

(16) Whenever the cherubs went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubs lifted their wings to ascend from the earth, the wheels did not roll away from their side. (17) When those stood still, these stood still; and when those ascended, these ascended with them, for the spirit of the creature was in them. (18) Then the Presence of the LORD left the platform of the House and stopped above the cherubs. (19) And I saw the cherubs lift their wings and rise from the earth, with the wheels beside them as they departed; and they stopped at the entrance of the eastern gate of the House of the LORD, with the Presence of the God of Israel above them.

(22) Then the cherubs, with the wheels beside them, lifted their wings, while the Presence of the God of Israel rested above them. (23) The Presence of the LORD ascended from the midst of the city and stood on the hill east of the city.

(27) “But will God really dwell on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built! (28) Yet turn, O LORD my God, to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, and hear the cry and prayer which Your servant offers before You this day. (29) May Your eyes be open day and night toward this House, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall abide there’; may You heed the prayers which Your servant will offer toward this place. (30) And when You hear the supplications which Your servant and Your people Israel offer toward this place, give heed in Your heavenly abode—give heed and pardon. (31) “Whenever one man commits an offense against another, and the latter utters an imprecation to bring a curse upon him, and comes with his imprecation before Your altar in this House, (32) oh, hear in heaven and take action to judge Your servants, condemning him who is in the wrong and bringing down the punishment of his conduct on his head, vindicating him who is in the right by rewarding him according to his righteousness. (33) “Should Your people Israel be routed by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and then turn back to You and acknowledge Your name, and they offer prayer and supplication to You in this House, (34) oh, hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and restore them to the land that You gave to their fathers. (35) “Should the heavens be shut up and there be no rain, because they have sinned against You, and then they pray toward this place and acknowledge Your name and repent of their sins, when You answer them, (36) oh, hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, after You have shown them the proper way in which they are to walk; and send down rain upon the land which You gave to Your people as their heritage. (37) So, too, if there is a famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts or caterpillars, or if an enemy oppresses them in any of the settlements of the land. “In any plague and in any disease, (38) in any prayer or supplication offered by any person among all Your people Israel—each of whom knows his own affliction—when he spreads his palms toward this House, (39) oh, hear in Your heavenly abode, and pardon and take action! Render to each man according to his ways as You know his heart to be—for You alone know the hearts of all men— (40) so that they may revere You all the days that they live on the land that You gave to our fathers. (41) “Or if a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your name— (42) for they shall hear about Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm—when he comes to pray toward this House, (43) oh, hear in Your heavenly abode and grant all that the foreigner asks You for. Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built. (44) “When Your people take the field against their enemy by whatever way You send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city which You have chosen, and of the House which I have built to Your name, (45) oh, hear in heaven their prayer and supplication and uphold their cause. (46) “When they sin against You—for there is no man who does not sin—and You are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and their captors carry them off to an enemy land, near or far; (47) and then they take it to heart in the land to which they have been carried off, and they repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captors, saying: ‘We have sinned, we have acted perversely, we have acted wickedly,’ (48) and they turn back to You with all their heart and soul, in the land of the enemies who have carried them off, and they pray to You in the direction of their land which You gave to their fathers, of the city which You have chosen, and of the House which I have built to Your name— (49) oh, give heed in Your heavenly abode to their prayer and supplication, uphold their cause, (50) and pardon Your people who have sinned against You for all the transgressions that they have committed against You. Grant them mercy in the sight of their captors that they may be merciful to them. (51) For they are Your very own people that You freed from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace. (52) May Your eyes be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, and may You heed them whenever they call upon You. (53) For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart for Yourself from all the peoples of the earth as Your very own, as You promised through Moses Your servant when You freed our fathers from Egypt.” (54) When Solomon finished offering to the LORD all this prayer and supplication, he rose from where he had been kneeling, in front of the altar of the LORD, his hands spread out toward heaven. (55) He stood, and in a loud voice blessed the whole congregation of Israel: (56) “Praised be the LORD who has granted a haven to His people Israel, just as He promised; not a single word has failed of all the gracious promises that He made through His servant Moses. (57) May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never abandon or forsake us. (58) May He incline our hearts to Him, that we may walk in all His ways and keep the commandments, the laws, and the rules, which He enjoined upon our fathers. (59) And may these words of mine, which I have offered in supplication before the LORD, be close to the LORD our God day and night, that He may provide for His servant and for His people Israel, according to each day’s needs— (60) to the end that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD alone is God, there is no other. (61) And may you be wholehearted with the LORD our God, to walk in His ways and keep His commandments, even as now.” (62) The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. (63) Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep as sacrifices of well-being to the LORD. Thus the king and all the Israelites dedicated the House of the LORD. (64) That day the king consecrated the center of the court that was in front of the House of the LORD. For it was there that he presented the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the fat parts of the offerings of well-being, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the fat parts of the offerings of well-being. (65) So Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assemblage, [coming] from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt—observed the Feast at that time before the LORD our God, seven days and again seven days, fourteen days in all. (66) On the eighth day he let the people go. They bade the king good-bye and went to their homes, joyful and glad of heart over all the goodness that the LORD had shown to His servant David and His people Israel.