9:1  Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, "Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand."

9:2  Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them stood a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

9:3  Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had appeared, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins had appeared in the writing case.

9:4  The LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which people commit in its midst."

9:5  But to the others He said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare.

9:6  "Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders who stood before the temple.

9:7  And He said to them, " Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!" Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city.

9:8  As they struck the people and I alone remained, I fell on my face and cried out saying, " Alas, Lord GOD! Will You destroy the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?"

9:9  Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah has become very, very great, and the land has become filled with blood and the city fills with perversion; for they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!'

9:10  "But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads."

9:11  Then behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins appeared the writing case reported, saying, "I have done just as You have commanded me."