Ezekiel 14:4-7

14:4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. ¹  14:5 I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.’

14:6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations. 14:7 For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally.

Ezekiel 20:7

20:7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, ²  and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”

Ezekiel 20:24

20:24 I did this ³  because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on ⁴  their fathers’ idols.

Ezekiel 20:28

20:28 I brought them to the land which I swore ⁵  to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoke me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings.

Ezekiel 23:14-16

23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, ⁶  23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians ⁷  whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them, ⁸  she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ⁹ 

Numbers 15:39

15:39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow ¹⁰  after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. ¹¹ 

Numbers 15:2

15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land where you are to live, ¹²  which I am giving you, ¹³ 

Numbers 16:10

16:10 He has brought you near and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Do you now seek ¹⁴  the priesthood also?

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ¹⁵  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ¹⁶  famous men. ¹⁷ 

Numbers 2:14

2:14 Next will be ¹⁸  the tribe of Gad. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “in accordance with the multitude of his idols.”

² tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.

³ tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 23-24 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Or “they worshiped” (NCV, TEV, CEV); Heb “their eyes were on” or “were after” (cf. v. 16).

⁵ tn Heb “which I lifted up my hand.”

⁶ tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.

⁷ tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”

⁸ tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”

⁹ sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).

¹⁰ tn Heb “seek out, look into.”

¹¹ tn This last clause is a relative clause explaining the influence of the human heart and physical sight. It literally says, “which you go whoring after them.” The verb for “whoring” may be interpreted to mean “act unfaithfully.” So, the idea is these influences lead to unfaithful activity: “after which you act unfaithfully.”

¹² tn Heb “the land of your habitations.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew participle here has the futur instans use of the participle, expressing that something is going to take place. It is not imminent, but it is certain that God would give the land to Israel.

¹⁴ tn The verb is the Piel perfect. There is no imperfect tense before this, which makes the construction a little difficult. If the vav (ו) is classified as a consecutive, then the form would stand alone as an equivalent to the imperfect, and rendered as a modal nuance such as “would you [now] seek,” or as a progressive imperfect, “are you seeking.” This latter nuance can be obtained by treating it as a regular perfect tense, with an instantaneous nuance: “do you [now] seek.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

¹⁶ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

¹⁷ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text simply has “and the tribe of Gad.”

¹⁹ tc The Leningrad codex, upon which BHS is based, has “Reuel” here. In reading “Deuel” the translation presented above follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Smr, and the Latin Vulgate. Cf. Num 1:14.