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

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(A) all kinds of crawling things and unclean(B) animals and all the idols of Israel.(C) 11 In front of them stood seventy elders(D) of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer(E) in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense(F) was rising.(G)

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

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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).