The Wicked Are Slain

1Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a [a]deadly weapon in his hand.” 2And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his [b]battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn [c]at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

3Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the [d]temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; 4and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

5To the others He said in my [e]hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill;[f] do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6Utterly[g] slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the [h]temple. 7Then He said to them, “Defile the [i]temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” And they went out and killed in the city.

8So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury 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 bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’ 10And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head.”

11Just then, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, “I have done as You commanded me.”