Yechezkel - Chapter 9

1. Then He called into my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Bring near those appointed over the city, and each one his weapon of destruction in his hand."

2. And behold six men coming from the way of the upper gate, which is turned northward; each man has his sledgehammer in his hand, and one man among them clothed in linen with a scribe's tablet on his loins, and they came and stood beside the copper altar.

3. And the glory of the God of Israel lifted itself from upon the cherub upon which it had been, to the threshold of the House, and He called to the man clothed in linen, upon whose loins was the scribe's tablet.

4. And the Lord said to him, "Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and you shall mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men who are sighing and moaning over all the abominations that were done in its midst."

5. And to these, He said in my ears, "Pass through the city after him and smite; let your eye spare not and have no pity.

6. Old man, young man, and maiden, young children and women, you shall slay utterly, but to any man upon whom there is the mark you shall not draw near, and you shall commence from My sanctuary." So they commenced from the old men who were before the House.

7. And He said to them, "Defile the House and fill the courts with the slain [and] go out," and they went out and smote in the city.

8. And it came about when they smote, that I remained, and I fell on my face and cried out, and I said, "Alas, O Lord God, are You destroying the entire remnant of Israel when You pour out Your fury on Jerusalem?"

9. And He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land has become full of bloodshed, and the city has become full of perversion, for they said, 'The Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord does not see.'

10. I too-My eye will not spare, neither will I have pity; I have placed their way on their head."

11. And behold, the man clothed in linen, on whose loins was the tablet, replied with a word, saying, "I have done according to all that You have commanded me."