Ezekiel 8:5

8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ¹  the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

Ezekiel 8:16

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ²  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ³  were about twenty-five ⁴  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ⁵  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ⁶  toward the east!

Ezekiel 9:2

9:2 Next, I noticed ⁷  six men ⁸  coming from the direction of the upper gate ⁹  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ¹⁰  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Ezekiel 41:22

41:22 The altar was of wood, 5¼ feet ¹¹  high, with its length 3½ feet; ¹²  its corners, its length, ¹³  and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”

Ezekiel 43:18

43:18 Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: These are the statutes of the altar: On the day it is built to offer up burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it, ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 43:27

43:27 When the prescribed period is over, ¹⁵  on the eighth day and thereafter the priests will offer up on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings; ¹⁶  I will accept you, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 47:1

Water from the Temple

47:1 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple. I noticed ¹⁷  that water was flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from under the right side of the temple, from south of the altar.

¹ tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”

² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

³ sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).

⁴ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

⁵ sn The temple faced east.

⁶ tn Or “the sun god.”

³ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

⁴ sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.

⁵ sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

⁶ tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.

⁴ tn Heb “three cubits” (i.e., 1.575 meters).

⁵ tn Heb “two cubits” (i.e., 1.05 meters).

⁶ tc So the Masoretic text. The LXX reads “base.”

⁵ sn For the “sprinkling of blood,” see Lev 1:5, 11; 8:19; 9:12.

⁶ tn Heb “and they will complete the days.”

⁷ sn The people also could partake of the food of the peace offering (Lev 3).

⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.