1 T hen he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

2 B ehold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the middle of them clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

3 T he glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.

4 Y ahweh said to him, Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.

5 T o the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike: don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity;

6 k ill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house.

7 H e said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” They went out, and struck in the city.

8 W hile they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

9 T hen he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’

10 A s for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”

11 B ehold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”