8:9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure 1 of creeping thing and beast – detestable images 2 – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 3 8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel 4 (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant 5 vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.
1 tn Or “pattern.”
2 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
3 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
4 sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).
5 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.