Ezekiel 8

In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting in front of me. There the hand of the Lord GOD came down on me.

1And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

NoteEzekiel dates events from the deportation of King Jehoiachin and the first group of exiles to Babylon in 597 BC, so the sixth year is about 592 BC; the sixth month falls in late summer. Ezekiel is living among the deported Judeans in Babylonia, and the "elders of Judah" are the heads of families who led that exile community and who have come to consult him. "The hand of the LORD fell on me" is a stock phrase in this book for the overpowering onset of a prophetic vision, a state that seizes the prophet rather than something he chooses.

2Then I looked, and I saw a figure that looked like fire. From what seemed to be his waist down, he was fire. From his waist up, he shone bright, like glowing amber.

2Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

Note"Amber" translates the Hebrew word hashmal, whose exact meaning is unknown; ancient translators took it as a bright metal or metallic alloy, something like polished bronze or electrum, glowing rather than transparent. The same word describes the fiery figure in Ezekiel's opening vision (chapter 1).

3He reached out something shaped like a hand and took hold of me by a lock of my hair. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and, in visions from God, brought me to Jerusalem, to the doorway of the inner gate that faces north, where the idol that stirs up jealousy was set up.

3And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

NoteThe journey happens "in visions of God": Ezekiel's body stays in Babylonia while he is shown Jerusalem, roughly 900 kilometres away. The inner gate is a gateway in the wall around the temple's inner courtyard. "Jealousy" here renders a Hebrew word used of a husband's exclusive claim on his wife; Israel's covenant language regularly used marriage imagery, so an idol installed at God's own temple gate is called the image that provokes that reaction. Which god the statue represented is not stated.

4And there was the glory of the God of Israel, just like the vision I had seen out on the plain.

4And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

Note"The plain" refers back to the valley by the Chebar canal in Babylonia where Ezekiel first saw this vision of God's glory (chapters 1 and 3).

5Then he said to me, "Son of man, look now toward the north." So I looked toward the north, and there at the entrance north of the altar gate was this idol that stirs up jealousy.

5Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

Note"Son of man" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "human being" or "mortal." It is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout the book, more than ninety times, and marks the distance between the speaker and the man being spoken to.

6He said to me further, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing? Do you see the terrible things the people of Israel are doing here, things that drive me far away from my temple? But turn and look again, and you will see even worse things."

6He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

Note"Abominations" translates a Hebrew word for what is detestable or repellent, used above all for the worship of other gods and for ritual practices Israel's law forbade. "Sanctuary" is the temple in Jerusalem, the building itself.

7Then he brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and when I looked, I saw a hole in the wall.

7And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

8Then he said to me, "Son of man, now dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall, and I found a doorway.

8Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

9And he said to me, "Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing here."

9And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.

10So I went in and looked. Carved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and every kind of unclean animal, along with all the idols of the people of Israel.

10So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

Note"Creeping things" and "abominable beasts" are the classes of animal that Israel's food and purity laws ruled unclean and unfit for the altar (Leviticus 11), reptiles, insects, vermin and the like. "Portrayed upon the wall" means carved or incised into the wall surface, a decorative scheme familiar from Egyptian and Mesopotamian temples.

11Standing in front of them were seventy of the elders of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each man held his own incense burner, and a thick cloud of incense was rising up.

11And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

NoteSeventy is the traditional number for a full body of Israel's elders, going back to the seventy who went up the mountain with Moses (Exodus 24). Shaphan was the royal scribe under King Josiah and his family were prominent officials in Jerusalem, so Jaazaniah is a man of standing, not a fringe figure. A censer is a small hand-held pan or bowl for burning incense over coals; offering incense in the temple was in principle restricted to priests.

12Then he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room where he keeps his own carved images? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us. The LORD has abandoned the land.'"

12Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

Note"The LORD has forsaken the land" is what the elders say about the country of Judah itself: with Jerusalem battered and part of the population already deported, they conclude that their God has abandoned the territory and cannot see what they do in it.

13He also said to me, "Turn and look again, and you will see even worse things that they are doing."

13He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

14Then he brought me to the doorway of the north gate of the LORD's house, and there sat women crying for Tammuz.

14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

NoteTammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi) was a Mesopotamian god associated with shepherding and with the vegetation that dies in the summer heat; the myths have him carried off to the underworld, and his cult involved seasonal ritual mourning performed mainly by women. A month of the Babylonian calendar was named after him, falling in midsummer, close to the date given in verse 1.

15Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Turn and look again, and you will see things even worse than these."

15Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

16And he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD's house. There at the entrance of the LORD's temple, between the covered entryway and the altar, were about twenty-five men. Their backs were to the LORD's temple and their faces were toward the east, and they were bowing to the sun in the east.

16And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

NoteThe temple's entrance faced east, so worshipers normally stood facing west, toward the building. To bow toward the rising sun these men have had to turn right around, putting their backs to the sanctuary. The "porch" or portico was the roofed entrance hall at the front of the temple; the space between it and the great altar in the courtyard was where priests customarily stood to pray on the people's behalf.

17Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a small thing to the people of Judah that they do these disgusting things here? They have filled the land with violence, and they keep coming back to make me angry. Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose.

17Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

Note"Put the branch to their nose" is one of the most obscure phrases in the Hebrew Bible and no translation is secure. It may describe a ritual gesture in which worshipers held a twig or sprig to the face, a practice pictured in some ancient Near Eastern art; some ancient interpreters took it as an insulting gesture, and Jewish scribal tradition records that the line may once have read "to my nose," that is, an affront aimed at God. The rendering keeps the wording unresolved because the sense is genuinely unknown.

18So I too will act in fury. I will not look on them with pity, and I will not spare them. Even if they shout in my ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them."

18Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

Note"My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity" is a fixed legal-sounding pairing in Hebrew, used of a judge who refuses to let sympathy soften a sentence.