Ezekiel 8:16-18
New English Translation
16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there[a] at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar,[b] were about twenty-five[c] men with their backs to the Lord’s temple,[d] facing east—they were worshiping the sun[e] 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![f] 18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare[g] them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
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- 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.
Ezekiel 8:16-18
Legacy Standard Bible
16 Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their (A)backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and (B)they were [a]prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations which they have done here, that they have (C)filled the land with violence and (D)provoked Me to anger still more? For behold, they are sending forth the twig to their nose. 18 Therefore, I also will do this in wrath: My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare; and (E)they will cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”
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- Ezekiel 8:16 Or worshiping
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