5. Then the Lord said to me, "Son of man, look toward the north." So I did. I saw a statue that made God angry. It was in the entrance of the gate north of the altar.
6. He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the people of Israel are doing here? They are doing things I hate very much. Those things will cause me to go far away from my temple. But you will see things I hate even more."
7. Then he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard. I looked up and saw a hole in the wall.
8. He said to me, "Son of man, dig into the wall." So I did. And I saw a door there.
9. He continued, "Go through it. Look at the evil things they are doing here. I hate those things."
10. So I went in and looked. All over the walls were pictures of all kinds of crawling things and other animals. The Lord hates it when people worship those things. There were also carvings of all of the gods of the people of Israel.
11. In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah was standing there among them. He is the son of Shaphan. Each elder was holding a shallow cup. A sweet-smelling cloud of incense was rising from the cups.
12. The Lord said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Each of them is in his own room worshiping his own god. They say, 'The Lord doesn't see us. He has deserted the land.' "
13. He continued, "You will see them doing things I hate even more."
14. Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord's house. I saw women sitting there. They were sobbing over the god Tammuz.
15. The Lord said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing? You will see things I hate even more."