The Execution of Jerusalem's Wicked and the Marked Few
9
Chapter 9
1He called out with a loud voice, saying, "Approach, divine appointments of the City of refuge, and a man, a temple vessel of his anointing oil, in God's hand/power."2And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a shattering weapon in his hand. And among them was one man clothed in linen, with a scribe's inkhorn at his waist. And they came and stood beside the bronze altar.3And the glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the scribe's inkhorn at his waist.4And the LORD said to him, "Pass through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a mark on the foreheads of the men groaning and moaning over all the abominations being done in her midst."5And to these he said in their hearing: "Pass through the city after him and strike; let not your eye spare, and do not show mercy."6Elder, chosen man and virgin and little ones and women you shall kill to destruction; but to every man upon whom is the mark do not approach, and from the sanctuaries you shall begin, and they began with the men, the elders who were before the house.7And he said to them, "Defile the house and fill the courtyards with the slain; go out." And they went out and struck down people in the city.8And it came about as they were striking, and I was left alone, and I fell on my face, and I cried out and said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Are you destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out your wrath on Jerusalem?"9And he said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very great, very great, and the earth was filled with blood, and the city is full of perversion, for they have said, 'The LORD has abandoned the earth, and the LORD does not see.'"10And as for me—my eyes will not spare, and I will not spare them for their way; I have brought it upon their head.11And behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn at his waist, returned and said, "I have done according to all that you commanded me."