- 1Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
- 2Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in their midst clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.
- 3The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.
- 4The Lord said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst.
- 5To the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike: don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity;
- 6kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house.
- 7He said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” They went out, and struck in the city.
- 8While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord the Lord! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
- 9Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, ‘the Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord doesn’t see.’
- 10As for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
- 11Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”