The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 540

Ezechiel Chapter 9

All are ordered to be destroyed that are not marked in their foreheads.

G.o.d will not be entreated for them.

9:1. And he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: The visitations of the city are at hand, and every one hath a destroying weapon in his hand.

9:2. And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which looketh to the north: and each one had his weapon of destruction in his hand: and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn at his reins: and they went in, and stood by the brazen altar.

9:3. And the glory of the Lord of Israel went up from the cherub, upon which he was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man that was clothed with linen, and had a writer's inkhorn at his loins.

9:4. And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof.

Mark Thau... Thau, or Tau, is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and signifies a sign, or a mark; which is the reason why some translators render this place set a mark, or mark a mark without specifying what this mark was. But St. Jerome, and other interpreters, conclude it was the form of the letter Thau, which in the ancient Hebrew character, was the form of a cross.

9:5. And to the others he said in my hearing: Go ye after him through the city, and strike: let not your eyes spare, nor be ye moved with pity.

9:6. Utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children and women: but upon whomsoever you shall see Thau, kill him not, and begin ye at my sanctuary. So they began at the ancient men who were before the house.

9:7. And he said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew them that were in the city.

9:8. And the slaughter being ended I was left; and I fell upon my face, and crying, I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord G.o.d, wilt thou then destroy all the remnant of Israel, by pouring out thy fury upon Jerusalem?

9:9. And he said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel, and of Juda, is exceeding great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.

9:10. Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I will requite their way upon their head.

9:11. And behold the man that was clothed with linen, that had the inkhorn at his back, returned the word, saying: I have done as thou hast commanded me.

Ezechiel Chapter 10

Fire is taken from the midst of the wheels under the cherubims, and scattered over the city. A description of the cherubims.

10:1. And I saw and behold in the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubims, there appeared over them as it were the sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

10:2. And he spoke to the man, that was clothed with linen, and said: Go in between the wheels that are under the cherubims and fill thy hand with the coals of fire that are between the cherubims, and pour them out upon the city. And he went in, in my sight:

10:3. And the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.

10:4. And the glory of the Lord was lifted up from above the cherub to the threshold of the house: and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.

10:5. And the sound of the wings of the cherubims was heard even to the outward court as the voice of G.o.d Almighty speaking.

10:6. And when he had commanded the man that was clothed with linen, saying: Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are between the cherubims: he went in and stood beside the wheel.

10:7. And one cherub stretched out his arm from the midst of the cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims: and he took, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it and went forth.

10:8. And there appeared in the cherubims the likeness of a man's hand under their wings.

10:9. And I saw, and behold there were four wheels by the cherubims: one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was to the sight like the chrysolite stone:

10:10. And as to their appearance, all four were alike: as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.

10:11. And when they went, they went by four ways: and they turned not when they went: but to the place whither they first turned, the rest also followed, and did not turn back.

By four ways... That is, by any of the four ways, forward, backward, to the right or to the left.

10:12. And their whole body, and their necks, and their hands, and their wings, and the circles were full of eyes, round about the four wheels.

10:13. And these wheels he called voluble, in my hearing.

Voluble... That is, rolling wheels, galgal.

10:14. And every one had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub, and the second face, the face of a man: and in the third was the face of a lion: and in the fourth the face of an eagle.

10:15. And the cherubims were lifted up: this is the living creature that I had seen by the river Chobar.

10:16. And when the cherubims went, the wheels also went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings, to mount up from the earth, the wheels stayed not behind, but were by them.

10:17. When they stood, these stood: and when they were lifted up, these were lifted up: for the spirit of life was in them.

10:18. And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the temple: and stood over the cherubims.

10:19. And the cherubims lifting up their wings, were raised from the earth before me: and as they went out, the wheels also followed: and it stood in the entry of the east gate of the house of the Lord: and the glory of the G.o.d of Israel was over them.

10:20. This is the living creature, which I saw under the G.o.d of Israel by the river Chobar: and I understood that they were cherubims.

10:21. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings: and the likeness of a man's hand was under their wings.

10:22. And as to the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces which I had seen by the river Chobar, and their looks, and the impulse of every one to go straight forward.

Ezechiel Chapter 11

A prophecy against the presumptuous a.s.surance of the great ones. A remnant shall be saved, and receive a new spirit, and a new heart.

11:1. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of Banaias, princes of the people.

11:2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,

11:3. Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron, and we the flesh.

Were not houses lately built, etc... These men despised the predictions and threats of the prophets; who declared to them from G.o.d, that the city should be destroyed, and the inhabitants carried into captivity: and they made use of this kind of argument against the prophets, that the city, so far from being like to be destroyed, had lately been augmented by the building of new houses; from whence they further inferred, by way of a proverb, using the similitude of a cauldron, out of which the flesh is not taken, till it is thoroughly boiled, and fit to be eaten, that they should not be carried away out of their city, but there end their days in peace.

11:4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.

11:5. And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I know the thoughts of your heart.

11:6. You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.

11:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, all this is the caldron: and I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.