以西结书 8
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
以西結在異象中被提
8 第六年六月五日，我坐在家中，猶大的眾長老也坐在我面前，在那裡主耶和華的靈降在我身上。 2 我觀看，見有一形狀好像人（按照《馬索拉文本》，“人”作“火”；兩者在原文非常相似，現參照《七十士譯本》翻譯）的樣子，在那仿佛是他腰部以下，有火的樣子，在那仿佛是他腰部的以上有光輝的樣子，好像閃耀的金屬。 3 他伸出一隻形狀像手的東西，抓住我的一綹頭髮；靈就把我提到天地之間，在 神的異象中，他把我帶往耶路撒冷，到聖殿北門內院的入口處，在那裡有令 神憤恨的偶像的座位，就是觸動 神憤恨的。 4 不料，在那裡有以色列 神的榮耀，形狀與我在平原所見的一樣。
耶路撒冷的偶像崇拜
5 他對我說：“人子啊！舉目向北觀看。”我就舉目向北觀看，見祭壇門的北面，在入口的地方，有令 神憤恨的偶像。 6 他又對我說：“人子啊！以色列家在這裡所行的，就是他們行這極其可憎的事，使我遠離我的聖所，你看見了嗎？但你還要看見更加可憎的事。”
7 他領我到院子的門口；我觀看，見牆上有一個洞。 8 他對我說：“人子啊，挖牆吧！”我就挖牆，不料，見有一道門。 9 他對我說：“你進去，看看他們在這裡所行可憎的惡事。” 10 於是我進去觀看，見四圍的牆上刻著各種形狀的爬行的動物，和可憎惡的走獸，以及以色列家所有的偶像。 11 站在這些像面前的有以色列家的七十個長老，沙番的兒子雅撒尼亞也站在他們中間；各人手裡拿著自己的香爐，香的煙往上升。 12 他對我說：“人子啊！以色列家的眾長老各在自己偶像的房間裡暗中所行的，你看見了嗎？他們說：‘耶和華看不見我們，耶和華已經離開這地了。’” 13 他又對我說：“你還要看見他們行更加可憎的事。”
14 他領我到耶和華殿朝北的門口，在那裡有些婦女坐著，為搭模斯哭泣。 15 他對我說：“人子啊，你看見了嗎？你還要看見比這些更可憎的事。”
16 他又領我到耶和華殿的內院，在耶和華殿的門口，就是在走廊和祭壇中間，約有二十五個人，背向耶和華的殿，面向著東方；他們正在朝著東面叩拜太陽。
懲罰的警告
17 他對我說：“人子啊，你看見了嗎？猶大家在這裡行這可憎的事，還算小事嗎？他們使這地充滿了強暴，再三惹我發怒；看哪！他們把樹枝拿到自己的鼻前。 18 因此我要以烈怒待他們；我的眼必不顧惜，我也不憐恤；他們雖然在我耳中大聲呼求，我還是不聽他們。”
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
- 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.
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:1 tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:2 tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.
- 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.
- Ezekiel 8:2 tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”
- Ezekiel 8:2 tn See Ezek 1:4.
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:3 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
- Ezekiel 8:3 tn Or “image.”
- Ezekiel 8:5 tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”
- Ezekiel 8:6 tn Heb “house.”
- Ezekiel 8:10 tn Or “pattern.”
- Ezekiel 8:10 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
- Ezekiel 8:10 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:11 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:14 tn Given the context, this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”
- 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.
- Ezekiel 8:16 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
- 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).
- 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.”
- Ezekiel 8:16 sn The temple faced east.
- 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).
- 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.”
- 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.
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
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