CHAPTER 9
1 And he cried in mine ears with great voice, and said, The visitings of the city have nighed, and each man hath in his hand an instrument of slaying.
2 And lo! six men came from the way of the higher gate, that beholdeth to the north, and the instrument of death of each man was in his hand; also one man in the midst of them was clothed with linen clothes, and a penner of a writer at his reins; and they entered, and stood beside the brazen altar.
3 And the glory of the Lord of Israel was taken up from cherub [or cherubim], which glory was on it, to the thresh-old of the house; and the Lord called the man that was clothed with linen clothes, and had a penner of a writer in his loins.
4 And the Lord said to him, Pass thou by the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and mark thou Tau on the foreheads of men wailing and sorrowing on all [the] abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5 And he said to them in mine hearing, Go ye through the city, and follow ye him, and smite ye; your eye spare not, neither do ye mercy.
6 Slay ye till to death, an eld [or old] man, a young man, and a virgin, a little child, and women; but slay ye not any man, on whom ye see Tau; and begin ye at my saintuary. There-fore they began at the elder men, that were before the face of the house.
7 And he said to them, Defoul ye the house of the Lord, and fill ye the foreyards with slain men; go ye out. And they went out, and killed them that were in the city.
8 And lo! when the slaying was [ful] filled, I was left alone. And I fell down on my face, and I cried, and said, Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, therefore whether thou shalt lose all the remnants of Israel, and shalt shed out thy strong vengeance on Jerusalem?
9 And he said to me, The wicked-ness of the house of Israel and of Judah is full great, and the land is filled of bloods, and the city is filled with turning away; for they said, The Lord hath forsaken the land, and the Lord seeth not.
10 Therefore and mine eye shall not spare, neither I shall do mercy; I shall yield the way of them on the head of them.
11 And lo! the man that was clothed in linen clothes, that had a penner in his back, answered a word, and said, I have done, as thou commandedest to me.