Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it? Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”

“But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father’s example.

As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.

“They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. For them you bathed, painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry.

So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied – I heard a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

As I watched, I saw tendons on them, then muscles appeared, and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath in them.

When he brought me there, I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway.

Then he brought me to the outer court. I saw chambers there, and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers faced the pavement.

Then he led me toward the south. I saw a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and its porches; they had the same dimensions as the others.

For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet long, while those facing the temple were 175 feet long.

I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east; the sound was like that of rushing water; and the earth radiated his glory.

Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down.

Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and I noticed that in every corner of the court there was a court.

As I watched, I noticed a windstorm coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, such that bright light rimmed it and came from it like glowing amber from the middle of a fire.

He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, facing east – they were worshiping the sun toward the east!

Next, I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

As I watched, I noticed four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; the wheels gleamed like jasper.

A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.