Ezekiel 7:20

7:20 They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, ¹  and with it they made their abominable images – their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them.

Ezekiel 8:5-16

8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ²  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 ³  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 ⁴  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ⁵  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ⁶  8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ⁷  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ⁸  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? ⁹  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 ¹⁰  women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹¹  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 ¹²  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ¹³  were about twenty-five ¹⁴  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ¹⁵  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ¹⁶  toward the east!

Ezekiel 8:2

8:2 As I watched, I noticed ¹⁷  a form that appeared to be a man. ¹⁸  From his waist downward was something like fire, ¹⁹  and from his waist upward something like a brightness, ²⁰  like an amber glow. ²¹ 

Ezekiel 21:4

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 ²²  from the south ²³  to the north.

Ezekiel 21:7

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 ²⁴  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ²⁵  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 23:11-12

23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, ²⁶  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.

[7:20]  ¹ tc The MT reads “he set up the beauty of his ornament as pride.” The verb may be repointed as plural without changing the consonantal text. The Syriac reads “their ornaments” (plural), implying עֶדְיָם (’edyam) rather than עֶדְיוֹ (’edyo) and meaning “they were proud of their beautiful ornaments.” This understands “ornaments” in the common sense of women’s jewelry, which then were used to make idols. The singular suffix “his ornaments” would refer to using items from the temple treasury to make idols. D. I. Block points out the foreshadowing of Ezek 16:17 which, with Rashi and the Targum, supports the understanding that this is a reference to temple items. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:265.

[8:5]  ² tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”

[8:6]  ³ tn Heb “house.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

[8:10]  ⁶ sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).

[8:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[8:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ¹⁰ tn Given the context this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”

[8:14]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the sun god.”

[8:2]  ¹⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).

[8:2]  ¹⁸ tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.

[8:2]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.

[8:2]  ²⁰ tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”

[8:2]  ²¹ tn See Ezek 1:4.

[21:4]  ²² tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).

[21:4]  ²³ tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.

[21:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”

[21:7]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn The word “this” is not in the original text.