1. Six years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the leaders of Judah were meeting with me in my house. On the fifth day of the sixth month, the Lord God suddenly took control of me,
2. and I saw something in the shape of a human. This figure was like fire from the waist down, and it was bright as polished metal from the waist up.
3. It reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed my hair. Then in my vision the Lord's Spirit lifted me into the sky and carried me to Jerusalem.The Spirit took me to the north gate of the temple's inner courtyard, where there was an idol that disgusted the Lord and made him furious.
4. Then I saw the brightness of the glory of the God of Israel, just as I had seen it near the River Chebar.
5. God said to me, “Ezekiel, son of man, look north.” And when I did, I saw that disgusting idol by the altar near the gate.
6. God then said, “Do you see the terrible sins of the people of Israel? Their sins are making my holy temple unfit as a place to worship me. Yet you will see even worse things than this.”
7. Next, I was taken to the entrance of the courtyard, where I saw a hole in the wall.