3 And He putteth forth a form of a hand, and taketh me by a lock of my head, and lift me up doth a spirit between the earth and the heavens, and it bringeth me in to Jerusalem in visions of God, unto the opening of the inner gate that is facing the north, where `is' the seat of the figure of jealousy that is making jealous,
They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him angry.
And lift me up doth a spirit, and it bringeth me in unto the east gate of the house of Jehovah, that is facing the east, and lo, at the opening of the gate twenty and five men, and I see in their midst Jaazaniah son of Azzur, and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, heads of the people.
in visions of God He hath brought me in unto the land of Israel, and causeth me to rest on a very high mountain, and upon it `is' as the frame of a city on the south.
And a spirit hath lifted me up, and bringeth me in to Chaldea, unto the Removed, in a vision, by the Spirit of God, and go up from off me doth the vision that I have seen;
And I look, and lo, a hand `is' sent forth unto me, and lo, in it a roll of a book,
They have made Me zealous by `no-god,' They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by `no-people,' By a foolish nation I make them angry.
and lo, a hand hath come against me, and shaketh me on my knees and the palms of my hands.
and immediately I was in the Spirit, and lo, a throne was set in the heaven, and upon the throne is `one' sitting, and He who is sitting was in sight like a stone, jasper and sardine: and a rainbow was round the throne in sight like an emerald. And around the throne `are' thrones twenty and four, and upon the thrones I saw the twenty and four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and they had upon their heads crowns of gold; and out of the throne proceed do lightnings, and thunders, and voices; and seven lamps of fire are burning before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God, and before the throne `is' a sea of glass like to crystal, and in the midst of the throne, and round the throne, `are' four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind; and the first living creature `is' like a lion, and the second living creature `is' like a calf, and the third living creature hath the face as a man, and the fourth living creature `is' like an eagle flying. And the four living creatures, each by itself severally, had six wings, around and within `are' full of eyes, and rest they have not day and night, saying, `Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is coming;' and when the living creatures do give glory, and honour, and thanks, to Him who is sitting upon the throne, who is living to the ages of the ages, fall down do the twenty and four elders before Him who is sitting upon the throne, and bow before Him who is living to the ages of the ages, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, `Worthy art Thou, O Lord, to receive the glory, and the honour, and the power, because Thou -- Thou didst create the all things, and because of Thy will are they, and they were created.'
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's-day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, `I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last;' and, `What thou dost see, write in a scroll, and send to the seven assemblies that `are' in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.' And I did turn to see the voice that did speak with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lamp-stands, and in the midst of the seven lamp-stands, `one' like to a son of man, clothed to the foot, and girt round at the breast with a golden girdle, and his head and hairs white, as if white wool -- as snow, and his eyes as a flame of fire; and his feet like to fine brass, as in a furnace having been fired, and his voice as a sound of many waters, and having in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword is proceeding, and his countenance `is' as the sun shining in its might. And when I saw him, I did fall at his feet as dead, and he placed his right hand upon me, saying to me, `Be not afraid; I am the First and the Last, and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death. `Write the things that thou hast seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to come after these things; the secret of the seven stars that thou hast seen upon my right hand, and the seven golden lamp-stands: the seven stars are messengers of the seven assemblies, and the seven lamp-stands that thou hast seen are seven assemblies.
I have known a man in Christ, fourteen years ago -- whether in the body I have not known, whether out of the body I have not known, God hath known -- such an one being caught away unto the third heaven; and I have known such a man -- whether in the body, whether out of the body, I have not known, God hath known, -- that he was caught away to the paradise, and heard unutterable sayings, that it is not possible for man to speak.
Ye are not able the cup of the Lord to drink, and the cup of demons; ye are not able of the table of the Lord to partake, and of the table of demons; do we arouse the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He?
`And he addeth, and striketh against me, as the appearance of a man, and strengtheneth me,
for ye do not bow yourselves to another god -- for Jehovah, whose name `is' Zealous, is a zealous God.
As to the beauty of his ornament, For excellency He set it, And the images of their abominations, Their detestable things -- they made in it, Therefore I have given it to them for impurity,
And a spirit hath lifted me up, and doth take me away, and I go bitterly, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah on me `is' strong.
`And they set their abominations in the house over which My name is called, so as to defile it;
For the sons of Judah Have done the evil thing in Mine eyes, An affirmation of Jehovah, They have set their abominations in the house On which My name is called -- to defile it,
And he setteth the graven image of the shrine that he made in the house of which Jehovah said unto David and unto Solomon his son, `In this house, and in Jerusalem, that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My name -- to the age;
As to the altar of brass that `is' before Jehovah -- he bringeth `it' near from the front of the house, from between the altar and the house of Jehovah, and putteth it on the side of the altar, northward.
and say unto him, `Lo, we pray thee, there are with thy servants fifty men, sons of valour: let them go, we pray thee, and they seek thy lord, lest the Spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up, and doth cast him on one of the hills, or into one of the valleys;' and he saith, `Ye do not send.'
and it hath been, I go from thee, and the Spirit of Jehovah doth lift thee up, whither I know not, and I have come to declare to Ahab, and he doth not find thee, and he hath slain me; and thy servant is fearing Jehovah from my youth.
And Joshua saith unto the people, `Ye are not able to serve Jehovah, for a God most holy He `is'; a zealous God He `is'; He doth not bear with your transgression and with your sins.
thou dost not bow thyself to them nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God `am' a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on children, and on a third `generation', and on a fourth, to those hating Me;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 8
Commentary on Ezekiel 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
God, having given the prophet a clear foresight of the people's miseries that were hastening on, here gives him a clear insight into the people's wickedness, by which God was provoked to bring these miseries upon them, that he might justify God in all his judgments, might the more particularly reprove the sins of the people, and with the more satisfaction foretel their ruin. Here God, in vision, brings him to Jerusalem, to show him the sins that were committed there, though God had begun to contend with them (v. 1-4), and there he sees,
Eze 8:1-6
Ezekiel was now in Babylon; but the messages of wrath he had delivered in the foregoing chapters related to Jerusalem, for in the peace or trouble thereof the captives looked upon themselves to have peace or trouble, and therefore here he has a vision of what was done at Jerusalem, and this vision is continued to the close of the 11th chapter.
Eze 8:7-12
We have here a further discovery of the abominations that were committed at Jerusalem, and within the confines of the temple, too. Now observe,
Eze 8:13-18
Here we have,