Ezekiel 8:1-3

Context

A Desecrated Temple

8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month,¹ as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand² of the sovereign Lord seized me.³ 8:2 As I watched, I noticed⁴ a form that appeared to be a man.⁵ From his waist downward was something like fire,⁶ and from his waist upward something like a brightness,⁷ like an amber glow.⁸ 8:3 He stretched out the form⁹ of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind¹⁰ lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem¹¹ by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue¹² which provokes to jealousy was located.

[8:1] ¹tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”

[8:1] ²tn Or “power.”

[8:1] ³tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.

[8:2] ⁴tn 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] ⁵tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.

[8:2] ⁶tc 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] ⁷tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”

[8:2] ⁸tn See Ezek 1:4.

[8:3] ⁹tn 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] ¹⁰tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.

[8:3] ¹¹map 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] ¹²tn Or “image.”