²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. ^(A)So Judah was led away into exile from its land.

¹¹ Standing in front of them were ^(A)seventy ^(B)elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his ^(C)censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘^(D)The Lord does not see us; the Lord has ^(E)forsaken the land.’” ¹³ And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the entrance of the ^(F)gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶ Then He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their ^(G)backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and ^(H)they were ^[a]prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. ¹⁷ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have ^(I)filled the land with violence and ^(J)provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and ^(K)though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”