Ezekiel 5:11

5:11 “Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare ¹  you.

Ezekiel 8:3-16

8:3 He stretched out the form ²  of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind ³  lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem ⁴  by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue ⁵  which provokes to jealousy was located. 8:4 Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.

8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ⁶  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.

8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people ⁷  of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

8:7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8:8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.

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 ⁸  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ⁹  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ¹⁰  8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ¹²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

8:12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? ¹³  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 8:13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”

8:14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed ¹⁴  women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵  8:15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ¹⁶  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ¹⁷  were about twenty-five ¹⁸  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ¹⁹  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ²⁰  toward the east!

Ezekiel 23:39

23:39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.

Ezekiel 44:7

44:7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate ²¹  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ²²  have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices.

Ezekiel 44:2

44:2 The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut.

Ezekiel 16:14-15

16:14 Your fame ²³  spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. ²⁴ 

16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ²⁵  became his.

Ezekiel 21:4-7

21:4 Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone ²⁶  from the south ²⁷  to the north. 21:5 Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again!’

21:6 “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart ²⁸  and bitterness; groan before their eyes. 21:7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone ²⁹  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ³⁰  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 23:11-12

23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, ³¹  but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:2

23:2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.

Ezekiel 33:4

33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death. ³² 

Ezekiel 33:7

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ³³  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.

[5:11]  ¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[8:3]  ² tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).

[8:3]  ³ tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.

[8:3]  ⁴ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:3]  ⁵ tn Or “image.”

[8:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”

[8:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[8:10]  ⁸ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

[8:10]  ¹⁰ sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).

[8:11]  ¹¹ 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).

[8:11]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[8:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ¹⁴ tn Given the context this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”

[8:14]  ¹⁵ sn The worship of Tammuz included the observation of the annual death and descent into the netherworld of the god Dumuzi. The practice was observed by women in the ancient Near East over a period of centuries.

[8:16]  ¹⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ¹⁷ 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).

[8:16]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

[8:16]  ¹⁹ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “the sun god.”

[44:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “to desecrate.”

[44:7]  ²² tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

[16:14]  ²³ tn Heb “name.”

[16:14]  ²⁴ sn The description of the nation Israel in vv. 10-14 recalls the splendor of the nation’s golden age under King Solomon.

[16:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).

[21:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.

[21:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “breaking loins.”

[21:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”

[21:7]  ³⁰ sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.

[23:11]  ³¹ tn The word “this” is not in the original text.

[33:4]  ³² tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”

[33:7]  ³³ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.