ባዕድ አምልኮ በቤተ መቅደስ
1በስድስተኛው ዓመት፣ በስድስተኛው ወር፣ በአምስተኛው ቀን በቤቴ ተቀምጬ ሳለሁ፣ የይሁዳም ሽማግሌዎች በፊቴ ተቀምጠው ሳሉ፣ በዚያ የጌታ እግዚአብሔር እጅ በላዬ መጣች። 2እኔም አየሁ፤ እነሆ፤ የሰውን ልጅ የሚመስል8፥2 ወይም እሳት የሚመስል አየሁ ነበረ፤ ወገቡ ከሚመስለው ጀምሮ ወደ ታች እንደ እሳት ያለ ነበር፤ ወገቡንም ከሚመስለው ጀምሮ ወደ ላይ እንደ ጋለ ብረት ያበራ ነበር። 3እርሱም እጅ መሳይ ዘርግቶ የራስ ጠጕሬን ያዘ፤ መንፈስም በምድርና በሰማይ መካከል አነሣኝ፤ እርሱም ቅናት የሚያነሣው ጣዖት ወደ ቆመበት፣ ወደ ውስጠኛው አደባባይ መግቢያ ወደ ሰሜን በር ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም በእግዚአብሔር ራእይ ወሰደኝ። 4እነሆ፤ በረባዳው ስፍራ በራእይ ያየሁት የእስራኤል አምላክ ክብር በዚያ ነበረ።
5እርሱም፣ “የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ ወደ ሰሜን ተመልከት” አለኝ። እኔም ተመለከትሁ፤ እነሆ ከመሠዊያው በር በሰሜን በኩል መግቢያው ላይ ይህ የቅናት ጣዖት ነበረ።
6ደግሞም፣ “የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ የእስራኤል ቤት ከመቅደሴ ያርቀኝ ዘንድ በዚህ የሚያደርገውን እጅግ አስጸያፊ ነገር ታያለህን? ከዚህም የባሰ አስጸያፊ ነገር ታያለህ” አለኝ።
7ከዚያም በኋላ ወደ አደባባዩ መግቢያ አመጣኝ፤ እኔም ግንቡን ተመለከትሁ፤ ቀዳዳም ነበረበት። 8እርሱም፣ “የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ ግንቡን ንደለው” አለኝ፤ እኔም ግንቡን ነደልሁት፤ አንድ በርም አገኘሁ።
9እርሱም፣ “ግባና በዚህ የሚፈጽሙትን እጅግ የከፋ ርኩሰት ተመልከት አለኝ።” 10እኔም ገብቼ አየሁ፤ እነሆ በደረታቸው የሚሳቡ ፍጡራንና የርኩሳን አራዊት ዐይነት ሁሉ፣ የእስራኤልም ቤት ጣዖታት ሁሉ ዙሪያውን በግንቡ ላይ ተቀርጸው ነበር። 11በእነዚህም ፊት ከእስራኤል ቤት ሰባ ሽማግሌዎች ቆመው ነበር፤ በመካከላቸውም የሳፋን ልጅ ያእዛንያ ቆሞ ነበር፤ እያንዳንዳቸውም በእጃቸው ጥና ይዘዋል፤ መልካም መዐዛ ያለው የዕጣን ጢስም እየተትጐለጐለ ይወጣ ነበር።
12እርሱም፣ “የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ የእስራኤል ቤት ሽማግሌዎች እያንዳንዳቸው በጣዖታቸው ምስል ጓዳ ውስጥ በጨለማ የሚያደርጉትን አይተሃልን? እነርሱ፣ ‘እግዚአብሔር አያየንም፤ እግዚአብሔር ምድሪቱን ትቷል ይላሉ’ ” አለኝ። 13ደግሞም፣ “ከእነዚህ የባሰ አስጸያፊ ነገር ሲሠሩ ታያለህ” አለኝ።
14ከዚህም በኋላ በሰሜን በኩል ወዳለው ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት በር መግቢያ አመጣኝ፤ በዚያም ሴቶች ተቀምጠው ተሙዝ ለተባለው ጣዖት ሲያለቅሱ አየሁ። 15እርሱም፣ “የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ ይህን አይተሃልን? ከዚህም የባሰ አስጸያፊ ነገር ታያለህ” አለኝ።
16ደግሞም ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት ወደ ውስጠኛው አደባባይ አመጣኝ፤ እነሆም በመተላለፊያውና በመሠዊያው መካከል በቤተ መቅደሱ መግቢያ ላይ ሃያ አምስት ሰዎች ያህል ነበሩ፤ ጀርባቸውን ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ፣ ፊታቸውን ወደ ምሥራቅ አድርገው ለምትወጣዋ ፀሓይ ይሰግዱ ነበር።
17እርሱም እንዲህ አለኝ፤ “የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ ይህን አይተሃልን? የይሁዳ ቤት በዚህ ቦታ የሚፈጽሙት ጸያፍ ተግባር ቀላል ነገር ነውን? ምድሪቱንስ በዐመፅ በመሙላት ዘወትር ያስቈጡኝ ዘንድ ይገባልን? እነሆ፤ ቅርንጫፉን ወደ አፍንጫቸው አቅርበዋል! 18ስለዚህ በቍጣ እመጣባቸዋለሁ፤ በርኅራኄ ዐይን አላያቸውም፤ ከሚመጣባቸው ነገር አላድናቸውም፤ ወደ ጆሮዬም ቢጮኹ አልሰማቸውም።”
Idolatry in the Temple
1In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. 2I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.8:2 Or saw a fiery figure From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. 3He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. 4And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.
5Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.
6And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”
7Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.
9And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
12He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ” 13Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”
14Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. 15He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”
16He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
17He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
