Slaughter of the Idolaters
Ezekiel 9Then ʜᴇ cried out with a loud voice in my hearing, saying, “Y’all must come near, executioners of city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” I saw six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. One man in the middle of them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.
The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house, and ʜᴇ called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side. YHWH said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
To the others Hᴇ said in my hearing, “Y’all are to go through the city after him and strike people down. Y’all must not allow your* eyes to spare or have pity on anyone. Y’all are to slaughter the old men, the young men, the virgins, the little children, and the women. But y’all must not approach any man who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!”
Then they began with the old men who were before the house.
He said to them, “Y’all Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!”
They went out, and struck in the city.
While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord YHWH! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
Then 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, ‘YHWH has forsaken the land, and YHWH doesn’t see.’ As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
Then the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”