Jeremiah 2:27

2:27 They say to a wooden idol, ¹  ‘You are my father.’

They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ² 

Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ³ 

Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Ezekiel 8:16

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ⁴  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ⁵  were about twenty-five ⁶  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ⁷  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ⁸  toward the east!

[2:27]  ¹ tn Heb “wood…stone…”

[2:27]  ² sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”

[2:27]  ³ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”

[8:16]  ⁴ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ⁸ tn Or “the sun god.”