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Ezekiel 8
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Abominations in the Temple

8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. 2 Then I beheld, and lo, a form that had the appearance of a man;[a] below what appeared to be his loins it was fire, and above his loins it was like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming bronze. 3 He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain.

5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now in the direction of the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then said he to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall”; and when I dug in the wall, lo, there was a door. 9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw; and there, portrayed upon the wall round about, were all kinds of creeping things, and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Ja-azani′ah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, every man in his room[b] of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations which they commit.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.[c] 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord; and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too slight a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence, and provoke me further to anger? Lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I will deal in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 8:2 Gk: Heb fire
  2. Ezekiel 8:12 Gk Syr Vg Tg: Heb rooms
  3. 8.14 weeping for Tammuz: A vegetation god known as Adonis to the Phoenicians. He was supposed to die in the summer and come to life again in the spring. Women wept at the time of his departure to the underworld.
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Ezekiel 8
New English Translation

A Desecrated Temple

8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month,[a] as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand[b] of the Sovereign Lord seized me.[c] 2 As I watched, I noticed[d] a form that appeared to be a man.[e] From his waist downward was something like fire,[f] and from his waist upward something like a brightness,[g] like an amber glow.[h] 3 He stretched out the form[i] of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind[j] lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem by divine visions, to the door of the inner gate that faces north where the statue[k] that provokes to jealousy was located. 4 Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.

5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward[l] 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.

6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the people[m] of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.

9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure[n] of creeping thing and beast—detestable images[o]—and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.[p] 11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel[q] (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors[r] from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

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?[s] For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed[t] women sitting there weeping for Tammuz.[u] 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”

16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there[v] at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar,[w] were about twenty-five[x] men with their backs to the Lord’s temple,[y] facing east—they were worshiping the sun[z] toward the east!

17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose![aa] 18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare[ab] them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 8:1 tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.” sn In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month would be September 17, 592 b.c., about fourteen months after the initial vision.
  2. Ezekiel 8:1 tn Or “power.” sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
  3. Ezekiel 8:1 tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.
  4. Ezekiel 8:2 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).
  5. Ezekiel 8:2 tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.
  6. Ezekiel 8:2 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.
  7. Ezekiel 8:2 tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”
  8. Ezekiel 8:2 tn See Ezek 1:4.
  9. Ezekiel 8:3 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).
  10. Ezekiel 8:3 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
  11. Ezekiel 8:3 tn Or “image.”
  12. Ezekiel 8:5 tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”
  13. Ezekiel 8:6 tn Heb “house.”
  14. Ezekiel 8:10 tn Or “pattern.”
  15. Ezekiel 8:10 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
  16. Ezekiel 8:10 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
  17. Ezekiel 8:11 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).
  18. Ezekiel 8:11 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
  19. Ezekiel 8:12 tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.sn This type of image is explicitly prohibited in the Mosaic law (Lev 26:1).
  20. Ezekiel 8:14 tn Given the context, this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”
  21. Ezekiel 8:14 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.
  22. Ezekiel 8:16 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
  23. Ezekiel 8:16 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).
  24. Ezekiel 8:16 tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of “twenty-five,” perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash. tn Or “exactly twenty-five.”
  25. Ezekiel 8:16 sn The temple faced east.
  26. Ezekiel 8:16 tn Or “the sun god.” sn The worship of astral entities may have begun during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:5).
  27. Ezekiel 8:17 tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”
  28. Ezekiel 8:18 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
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Ezekiel 8
Good News Translation

EZEKIEL'S SECOND VISION OF GOD (8.1—10.22)

Idolatry in Jerusalem

8 On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of our exile, the leaders of the exiles from Judah were sitting in my house with me. Suddenly the power of the Sovereign Lord came on me. 2 (A)I looked up and saw a vision of a fiery human form. From the waist down his body looked like fire, and from the waist up he was shining like polished bronze. 3 He reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed me by the hair. Then in this vision God's spirit lifted me high in the air and took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the inner entrance of the north gate of the Temple, where there was an idol that was an outrage to God.

4 (B)There I saw the dazzling light that shows the presence of Israel's God, just as I had seen it when I was by the Chebar River. 5 God said to me, “Mortal man, look toward the north.” I looked, and there near the altar by the entrance of the gateway I saw the idol that was an outrage to God.

6 God said to me, “Mortal man, do you see what is happening? Look at the disgusting things the people of Israel are doing here, driving me farther and farther away from my holy place. You will see even more disgraceful things than this.”

7 He took me to the entrance of the outer courtyard and showed me a hole in the wall. 8 He said, “Mortal man, break through the wall here.” I broke through it and found a door. 9 He told me, “Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there.” 10 So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals,[a] and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping. 11 Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense. 12 God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The Lord doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.’”

13 Then the Lord said to me, “You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that.” 14 So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.[b]

15 He asked, “Mortal man, do you see that? You will see even more disgusting things.” 16 So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

17 The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even more angry. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible![c] 18 They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy. They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can, but I will not listen to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 8:10 The Law of Moses prohibited the eating of certain animals as being ritually unclean (see 4.13; Lv 11).
  2. Ezekiel 8:14 A god who was thought to die when vegetation died and to come to life the next year. Women would mourn his ritual death.
  3. Ezekiel 8:17 A reference to a pagan rite of putting a branch to the nose.
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Ezekiel 8
New International Version

Idolatry in the Temple

8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders(A) of Judah were sitting before(B) me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there.(C) 2 I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.[a] From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal.(D) 3 He stretched out what looked like a hand(E) and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up(F) between earth and heaven and in visions(G) of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court,(H) where the idol that provokes to jealousy(I) stood. 4 And there before me was the glory(J) of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.(K)

5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol(L) of jealousy.

6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable(M) things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?(N) But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.

9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls(O) all kinds of crawling things and unclean(P) animals and all the idols of Israel.(Q) 11 In front of them stood seventy elders(R) of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer(S) in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense(T) was rising.(U)

12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness,(V) each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see(W) us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz.(X) 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

16 He then brought me into the inner court(Y) of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar,(Z) were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun(AA) in the east.(AB)

17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things(AC) they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence(AD) and continually arouse my anger?(AE) Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will deal with them in anger;(AF) I will not look on them with pity(AG) or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen(AH) to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 8:2 Or saw a fiery figure
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