¹⁶ “Behold, I am going to send for many ^(A)fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will ^(B)hunt them ^(C)from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. ^17 (D)For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, ^(E)nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.

⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and make a ^(A)mark on the foreheads of the people who ^(B)groan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” ⁵ But to the others He said in my ^[a]presence, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. ^6 [b]Utterly ^(C)kill old men, young men, female virgins, little children, and women, but do not ^(D)touch any person on whom is the mark; and you shall ^(E)start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the ^[c]elders who were before the ^[d]temple. ⁷ He also said to them, “^(F)Defile the ^[e]temple and fill the courtyards with the dead. Go out!” So they went out and struck and killed the people in the city. ⁸ And as they were striking the people and I alone was left, I ^(G)fell on my face and cried out, ^[f]saying, “^(H)Oh, Lord ^[g]God! Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel ^[h]by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹ Then He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is ^(I)filled with blood, and the city is ^(J)full of perversion; for ^(K)they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ ¹⁰ But as for Me, ^(L)My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but ^(M)I will bring their conduct upon their heads.”

¹¹ Then behold, the man clothed in linen, at whose waist was the scribe’s kit, ^[i]reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

God’s Judgment Unavoidable

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the ^(A)altar, and He said,