The Lord God talked to Ezekiel in a loud voice and said, Come close, every soldier with a sword in his hand.

Then six men came from the high gate on the south and with them one man dressed in linen who had an ink pen and he went and stood by the altar made of brass.

And the Lord God of all glory and shiny brightness and goodness left the cherubs on the ark of the covenant at His house and stood at the door of the house.

He called out to the man dressed linen and said, Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and take the ink pen and put a mark on the forehead of all the ones who are sad and upset about all the bad stuff being done at My house and in My city.

So the man with the inkpen did what the Lord God said and put a mark on every one in the city who was upset about the bad stuff that the people were doing.

Then the Lord God told the other men to follow the man through the whole city and strike down every person who doesn’t have an ink mark on their forehead.

So the men started at the Lord’s house and did what the Lord said.

As they were striking down the people Ezekiel fell on his face and started praying to the Lord saying, O Lord, Will you strike them all because You are so angry?

Then the Lord said to Ezekiel, Their badness is so big that the whole land is full of the blood of My people that they have killed.

They do only bad stuff. They say that I have left the earth and that I don’t see any of their bad stuff, so I will put what they do back on their own head.

The man with the ink pen finished and came back and told the Lord, I have done what you told me.

Then Ezekiel looked above the beautiful living creatures and saw the throne like a sapphire stone again.

The Lord told the man in linen to go in between the Cherubim and fill your hand with the coals of fire and toss it out over the city.

The man in linen did what the Lord said and the bright shininess of the Lord’s glory filled the Lord’s house like a cloud of smoke.

The wings of the Cherubim made a noise when they lifted up like the sound of God’s voice. Their wings and bodies were full of eyes that see everything all the time.

And they each had four faces. The first face was like a Cherub and the second face was like a man and the third face was like a lion and the fourth face was like an eagle.

I saw them as they lifted up. They were the Cherubim that I saw by the river.

The shiny brightness of the Lord left the door of the house and stood over the cherubim and the cherubim lifted up their wings and went up from the earth as I watched.

They each had four wings and four faces and hands like a man under their wings.

And then the Spirit lifted Ezekiel up and took him to the east gate of the Lord’s house and showed him 25 men, important leaders of the city, who were telling the people to do bad things against the Lord.

The Lord told Ezekiel, Tell them I know what they are thinking. You think this city is yours to take everything for yourself, but I will take you out of here and strangers will capture you and take you away.

Then, after they learn to do right, I will bring them again from all the places they were taken away.

And when they come back they will take away all the bad stuff. I will give them one heart and put a new spirit in them and will take out the hard heart that always does bad and give them a good right heart.

And they will walk in My rules and do My best ways and they will be My people.

The ones who keep doing bad will get the bad stuff back on their own heads.

And then the Lord’s shiny brightness went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain on the east side of the city.

And after that the Spirit of God took me in my thinking to see the ones who had been captured and taken away and I told them all these things that the Lord had showed me.

The Lord told me, You live in the middle of a people who turn their backs to me and have eyes but can’t see and have ears but won’t listen. They are rebels.

So pack your stuff like you are moving and then go out as they watch you, like you are being captured. Dig through the wall and sneak away carrying your stuff on your shoulders in the evening light.

And put a cover over your face so you can’t see the ground. This will be a sign for them.

So Ezekiel did what the Lord said. He packed his stuff and dug through the wall and carried his stuff sneaking away in the evening light.

The Lord asked Ezekiel, Did the princes and leaders of the people ask you what you were doing? Tell them, I am your sign. This is what is going to happen to you. The princes will carry their stuff away on their shoulders.

I, the Lord, will throw a net over them and carry them captive to Babylon and scatter them to every wind all over the world.

Then they will know that I am the Lord who made and controls everything.

Then later the Lord told Ezekiel, Shake when you eat your bread and shake when you drink your water and measure out just little bits of it because this is what the Lord God of the people of Jerusalem says, The people here will shake when they eat their bread and drink their water, and will only have little bits to eat because of all the killing and hurting they are doing.

This is coming now. Don’t listen to the ones who tell you it will still be a long time until I do these things. I said it, and I will do it.