And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins, even downward; fire and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the look of glowing brass. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. And, behold the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, and I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations (verses 1-6). It was over a year after his first vision (i:1) when Ezekiel sat in his house surrounded by the elders of Judah. Perhaps they had come expecting some new communication from the prophet. Suddenly the hand of the Lord fell again upon him. He beheld once more the glorious likeness of Him who was the center of the first vision of glory.[9] The hand of the Lord took the prophet by a lock of hair and the Spirit lifted him between the earth and the heaven and he was brought in the visions of God to Jerusalem. Was this a real experience? Critics speak of a trance, that the prophet was some kind of a psychic with the gift of clairvoyancy. It was not a trance-vision, but an action by the Spirit and power of the Lord. Elijah must have had frequently the same experience, for Obadiah said to him: "And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not" (1 Kings xviii:12). And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha after Elijah departed: "The Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley" (2 Kings ii:16). The Spirit of the Lord also caught away Philip (Acts viii:39). [9] The word "fire" is in the Septuagint (ancient Greek Version of the Old Testament) translated "man" so that it reads "the appearance of a man." There is a similarity between the Hebrew words for "man" and "fire." Fire is "esh" and man "ish." Compare with chapter i:26, 17.