Ezekiel 8:17

8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! ¹ 

Ezekiel 8:1

A Desecrated Temple

8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, ²  as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand ³  of the sovereign Lord seized me. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 16:31

16:31 When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. ⁵ 

¹ tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”

² tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”

³ tn Or “power.”

⁴ tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.

⁵ tn The Hebrew term, which also occurs in vv. 34 and 41 of this chapter, always refers to the payment of a prostitute (Deut 23:19; Isa 23:17; Hos 9:1; Mic 1:7).