Ezekiel 8:8-12

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 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.

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? ⁶  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’”

Ezekiel 23:14

23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, ⁷ 

Ezekiel 23:41

23:41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ² tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

[8:10]  ³ sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).

[8:11]  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).

[8:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[8:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:14]  ⁷ tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.