Chapter 9

¹ And he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, The judgement of the city has drawn nigh; and each had the weapons of destruction in his hand. ² And, behold, six men came from the way of the high gate that looks toward the north, and each one's axe was in his hand; and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with a long robe down to the feet, and a sapphire girdle was on his loins: and they came in and stood near the brazen altar. ³ And the glory of the God of Israel, that was upon them, went up ¹from the cherubs to the porch ²of the house.

And he called the man that was clothed with the long robe, who had the girdle on his loins; ⁴ And said to him, Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that groan and that grieve for all the iniquities that are done in the midst of them. ⁵ And he said to the first in my hearing, Go after him into the city, and smite: and let not your eyes spare, and have no mercy. ⁶ Slay ³utterly old man and youth, and virgin, and infants, and women: but go ye not nigh any on whom is the mark: begin at my ⁴sanctuary.

So they began with the elder men who were within in the house. ⁷ And he said to them, Defile the house, and go out and fill the ways with dead bodies, and smite.

⁸ And it came to pass as they were smiting, that I fell upon my face, and cried out, and said, Alas, O Lord! ⁵wilt thou destroy the remnant of Israel, in pouring out thy wrath upon Jerusalem? ⁹ Then said he to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Juda is become very exceedingly great: for the land is filled with many nations, and the city is filled with iniquity and uncleanness: because they have said, The Lord has forsaken the earth, The Lord looks not upon it. ¹⁰ Therefore mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have any mercy: I have recompensed their ways upon their heads.

¹¹ And, behold, the man clothed with the long robe, and girt with the girdle about his loins, answered and said, I have done as thou didst command me.

Chapter 10

¹ Then I looked, and, behold, over the firmament that was above the head of the cherubs there was a likeness of a throne over them, as a sapphire stone. ² And he said to the man clothed with the long robe, Go in between the wheels that are under the cherubs, and fill thine hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs, and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight.

³ And the cherubs stood on the right hand of the house, as the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. ⁴ Then the glory of the Lord departed from the cherubs to the porch of the house; and the cloud filled the house, and the court was filled

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with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. ⁵ And the sound of the cherubs' wings was heard as far as the outer court, as the voice ⁶of the Almighty God speaking.

⁶ And it came to pass, when he gave a charge to the man clothed with the sacred robe, saying, Take fire from between the wheels from between the cherubs, that he went in, and stood near the wheels. ⁷ And he stretched forth his hand into the midst of the fire that was between the cherubs, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of the man clothed with the sacred robe: and he took it, and went out.

⁸ And I saw the cherubs having the likeness of men's hands under their wings. ⁹ And I saw, and behold, four wheels stood by the cherubs, one wheel by each cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the appearance of a carbuncle stone. ¹⁰ And as for their appearance, there was one likeness to the four, as if there should be a wheel in the midst of a wheel. ¹¹ When they went, they went on their four ⁷sides; they turned not when they went, for whichever way the first head looked, they went; and they turned not as they went. ¹² And their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about the four wheels. ¹³ And these wheels were called Gelgel in my hearing. ¹⁵ And the cherubs were the same living creature which I saw by the river of Chobar.

¹⁶ And when the cherubs went, the wheels went, and they were close to them: and when the cherubs lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, their wheels turned not. ¹⁷ When they stood, the wheels stood; and when they mounted up, the wheels mounted up with them: because the spirit of life was in them.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord departed from ⁸the house, and went up on the cherubs. ¹⁹ And the cherubs lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went forth, the wheels were also ⁹beside them, and they stood at the entrance of the ¹⁰front gate of the house of the Lord; and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them above.

²⁰ This is the living creature which I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chobar; and I knew that they were ¹¹cherubs. ²¹ Each one had four faces, and each one had eight wings; and under their wings was the likeness of men's hands. ²² And as for the likeness of their faces, these are the same faces which I saw under the glory of the God of Israel by the river of Chobar: and they went each straight forward.