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

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[a] of creeping thing and beast—detestable images[b]—and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.[c] 11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel[d] (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors[e] 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?[f] 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!”

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 8:10 tn Or “pattern.”
  2. Ezekiel 8:10 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
  3. Ezekiel 8:10 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
  4. 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).
  5. Ezekiel 8:11 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
  6. 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).

Then He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. And He said to me, “Son of man, now (A)dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of crawling things and animals and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 11 And standing in front of them were (B)seventy (C)elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his (D)censer in his hand; and the fragrance of the cloud of incense was rising. 12 Then He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the rooms of his carved images? For they say, ‘(E)The Lord does not see us; the Lord has (F)abandoned the land.’” 13 And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing!”

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