Ezekiel 8:3

8:3 He stretched out the form ¹  of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind ²  lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem ³  by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue ⁴  which provokes to jealousy was located.

Ezekiel 8:5

8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ⁵  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 8:10-12

8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure ⁶  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ⁷  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ⁸  8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ⁹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ¹⁰  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? ¹¹  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’”

Ezekiel 8:16

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!

[8:3]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.

[8:3]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “image.”

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

[8:10]  ⁶ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

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

[8:11]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[8:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[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.”