After a priest ¹  has become ceremonially clean, they ²  must count off a period of seven days for him.

Then a wind lifted me up ¹  and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place, ² 

All his retinue – his attendants and his troops – I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.

“‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord –

I will do these things to you ¹  because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols.

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. ¹  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, ²  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

While I listened, he said to the others, ¹  “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare ²  anyone!

When they ¹  moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow ²  without turning as they moved,

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing!

You were different from other prostitutes ¹  because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite!

I did this ¹  because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols. ² 

I did this ¹  because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on ²  their fathers’ idols.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers ¹  and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?

“Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, ¹  you must bear now the punishment ²  for your obscene conduct and prostitution.”

It will never again be Israel’s source of confidence, but a reminder of how they sinned by turning to Egypt for help. ¹  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.’”

Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, with its galleries on either side as 175 feet. ¹  The interior of the outer sanctuary and the porch of the court, ² 

“‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for ¹  their sin.

Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize ¹  how I was crushed by their unfaithful ²  heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves ³  because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God, ¹  declares the sovereign Lord.’”