All are ordered to be destroyed that are not marked in their foreheads.
God will not be entreated for them.
9:1. And he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: The visitations
of the city are at hand, and every one hath a destroying weapon in his
hand.
9:2. And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which
looketh to the north: and each one had his weapon of destruction in his
hand: and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with linen,
with a writer’s inkhorn at his reins: and they went in, and stood by
the brazen altar.
9:3. And the glory of the Lord of Israel went up from the cherub, upon
which he was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man
that was clothed with linen, and had a writer’s inkhorn at his loins.
9:4. And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the
men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in
the midst thereof.
Mark Thau.... Thau, or Tau, is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet,
and signifies a sign, or a mark; which is the reason why some
translators render this place set a mark, or mark a mark without
specifying what this mark was. But St. Jerome, and other interpreters,
conclude it was the form of the letter Thau, which in the ancient
Hebrew character, was the form of a cross.
9:5. And to the others he said in my hearing: Go ye after him through
the city, and strike: let not your eyes spare, nor be ye moved with
pity.
9:6. Utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children and women: but
upon whomsoever you shall see Thau, kill him not, and begin ye at my
sanctuary. So they began at the ancient men who were before the house.
9:7. And he said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with
the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew them that were in
the city.
9:8. And the slaughter being ended I was left; and I fell upon my face,
and crying, I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, wilt thou then
destroy all the remnant of Israel, by pouring out thy fury upon
Jerusalem?
9:9. And he said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel, and of
Juda, is exceeding great, and the land is filled with blood, and the
city is filled with perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath
forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.
9:10. Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I
will requite their way upon their head.
9:11. And behold the man that was clothed with linen, that had the
inkhorn at his back, returned the word, saying: I have done as thou
hast commanded me.