Ezekiel 8

Abominations in the Temple

1 *[ch. 1:2]; See ch. 20:1In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, *[2 Kgs. 6:32] as I sat in my house, with *ver. 11, 12;ch. 14:1;20:1,3the elders of Judah sitting before me, *See ch. 1:3the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, *ch. 1:27a form that had the appearance of a man.*8:2 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew of fire*ch. 1:27Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like *ch. 1:4,27gleaming metal.*8:2 Or amber3 He *[Dan. 5:5]; See ch. 2:9put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up *[2 Cor. 12:2,4] between earth and heaven and *ch. 11:1,24;40:2brought me in *See ch. 1:1visions of God to Jerusalem, *ver. 14to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, *[ch. 5:11] where was the seat of the *[Deut. 4:16] image of jealousy, *Deut. 32:16,21which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, *See ch. 1:28the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw *See ch. 3:22in the valley.

5 Then he said to me, *See ch. 2:1"Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north." So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of *See ver. 16the altar gate, in the entrance, was this *[See ver. 3above]image of jealousy. 6 And he said to me, "Son of man, *[ch. 47:6] do you see what they are doing, *See ch. 5:11the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, *[ch. 10:18,19]to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations."

7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, "Son of man, *[ch. 12:5]dig in the wall." So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said to me, "Go in, and see *See ch. 5:11the vile abominations that they are committing here." 10 So I went in and saw. And there, *ch. 23:14engraved on the wall all around, was *See Ex. 20:4every form of *Lev. 11:20;Rom. 1:23creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood *[Ex. 24:1;Num. 11:16] seventy men of *See ver. 1the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of *2 Chr. 34:8Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and *[ch. 6:13]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 *[ver. 7] in the dark, each *[ver. 10] in his room of pictures? For they say, *ch. 9:9;Ps. 10:11;Isa. 29:15‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’" 13 He said also to me, *ver. 6"You will see still greater abominations that they commit."

14 Then he brought me to *ver. 3the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O *[See ver. 5above] son of man? *[See ver. 13above]You will see still greater abominations than these."

16 And he brought me into *ch. 10:3;40:28;43:5;45:19;46:1;1 Kgs. 6:36the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, *Joel 2:17between the *1 Kgs. 6:3porch and *ver. 5;ch. 40:47;Ex. 40:6,29;[ch. 9:2] the altar, were about twenty-five men, *[Jer. 2:27;32:33] with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping *See Jer. 8:2the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O *See ch. 2:1son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit *See ch. 5:11the abominations that they commit here, that *[ch. 7:11,23] they should fill the land with violence and *Jer. 7:18,19;[ch. 20:28]provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their*8:17 Or my nose. 18 Therefore *ch. 5:13I will act in wrath. *See ch. 5:11My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. *Prov. 1:28;Isa. 1:15;Mic. 3:4And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."