Ezekiel 9

₁Then the Lord shouted_loudly and He said: ‘Call everyone who has to punish the people of the city. They must start punishing them. Everyone must have his weapon in his hand.’

₂Then 6 men came from the upper gate, the northern gate, and each man had his weapon in his hand to kill people. There was a man with them who had linen clothes and there was a writer's bag on his belt. The men went and stood next to the bronze_altar.

₃Then the glory of the King, the God of Israel, went up from the cherub-angels and it went to the door of the temple. The Lord spoke loudly to the man with the linen clothes and writer's bag on his belt. ₄The Lord said to him: ‘You must walk through the city of Jerusalem. Take a pen and put a mark on the forehead of each person who cries and groans about all the bad things that are happening in the city.’

_5-6I heard when the Lord said to the other men: ‘You must follow him through the city and you must kill everyone you see who does not have a mark on his forehead. You must start at the temple. Don't feel sorry for anyone. You must kill all the old men and young men, young girls, women and children. Kill them all. But don't do anything to the people who have marks on their foreheads.’

The men started killing the leaders and old men in front of the temple. ₇The Lord said to the men: ‘You must make the temple impure and throw a lot of dead bodies in the courtyards of the temple. Then you must go further.’

They went and they killed the people in the city. ₈While the men were killing the people, I was the only one who stayed there. I bowed down with my face to the ground and I shouted: ‘O Lord, my God, do You want to kill all the Israelites who are still_alive? Do You want to punish them all because You are angry with the people of Jerusalem?’

₉The Lord said to me: ‘The Israelites and the people of Judah have done a lot of sin. They have killed people all over the land and they are not fair to the people in the city. They did it because they think that the Lord can not see what they do. They think the Lord has gone away and left the city. ₁₀I will not forgive them and I will not feel sorry for them. I will punish them for the wrong things they have done.’

₁₁Then the man with the linen clothes and the writer's bag on his belt sent a message to the Lord. He said: ‘I have done what You told me to do.’