- The spirit carries Ezekiel to the east gate of the Temple. He sees twenty-five men there, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah.
- God tells Ezekiel that these guys are bad. They're falsely informing Jerusalem that they'll be safe from God's wrath. He tells Ezekiel to prophesy against them.
- God says that the people have been smugly claiming that they're safe in the city like meat in a pot. But in reality, all the corpses in the city will be the meat in the pot, while the people themselves will be taken out of it by the invaders.
- They'll be harshly judged by God and lots of them will be killed. It's payback time for disobeying all his laws.
A Somewhat Distant Promise
- As Ezekiel's making this prophecy, Pelatiah falls down and dies.
- Ezekiel himself falls down and asks if God's planning to destroy everyone from Israel.
- God tells Ezekiel that his own kin, his fellow exiles, and the whole House of Israel have strayed from God and are losing their land as punishment.
- But he's going to re-gather them from exile in the future and give their land back to their descendants.
- They'll be able to follow all of God's laws at that time, and he'll give them a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone.
- But the people who worshipped idols and abominations will definitely be punished.
- The chariot with the cherubim and the glory of God finally flies away. The spirit brings Ezekiel back to Babylon, where he tells the exiles about what he saw.