Ezekiel 9 WBT
Summary: The vision continues as the LORD summons six executioners and a seventh man clothed in linen with a writing kit, commanding the linen-clad man to go through Jerusalem first and mark the foreheads of those who "sigh and groan" over the city's abominations, so they will be spared. The six executioners then follow, commanded to kill without pity everyone lacking the mark — old and young, men, women, and children — beginning at the sanctuary itself with the seventy elders seen in the previous chapter. When Ezekiel cries out in intercession asking if God will destroy the whole remnant of Israel, he is told the land's bloodshed and injustice are too great, and "my eye will not spare" (v. 10).
1He cried also in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man [with] his destroying weapon in his hand.
2And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth towards the north, and every man a slaughter-weapon in his hand; and one man among them [was] clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in and stood beside the brazen altar.
3And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which he was, to the threshhold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, who [had] the writer's inkhorn by his side;
4And the LORD said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of it.
5And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6Slay utterly old [and] young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom [is] the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the elderly men who [were] before the house.
7And he said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
8And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
9Then said he to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [is] exceeding great, and the land [is] full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
10And as for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, [but] I will recompense their way upon their head.
11And behold, the man clothed with linen, who [had] the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.
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