Ezekiel 8
New English Translation
A Desecrated Temple
8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month,[a] as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand[b] of the Sovereign Lord seized me.[c] 2 As I watched, I noticed[d] a form that appeared to be a man.[e] From his waist downward was something like fire,[f] and from his waist upward something like a brightness,[g] like an amber glow.[h] 3 He stretched out the form[i] of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind[j] lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem by divine visions, to the door of the inner gate that faces north where the statue[k] that provokes to jealousy was located. 4 Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.
5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward[l] the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.
6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the people[m] of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”
7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.
9 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[n] of creeping thing and beast—detestable images[o]—and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.[p] 11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel[q] (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors[r] 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?[s] 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!”
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed[t] women sitting there weeping for Tammuz.[u] 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”
16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there[v] at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar,[w] were about twenty-five[x] men with their backs to the Lord’s temple,[y] facing east—they were worshiping the sun[z] 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![aa] 18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare[ab] them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 8:1 tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.” sn In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month would be September 17, 592 b.c., about fourteen months after the initial vision.
- Ezekiel 8:1 tn Or “power.” sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
- Ezekiel 8:1 tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.
- Ezekiel 8:2 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).
- Ezekiel 8:2 tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.
- Ezekiel 8:2 tc The MT reads: “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading: “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line, as followed in the translation here.
- Ezekiel 8:2 tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”
- Ezekiel 8:2 tn See Ezek 1:4.
- Ezekiel 8:3 tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).
- Ezekiel 8:3 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
- Ezekiel 8:3 tn Or “image.”
- Ezekiel 8:5 tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”
- Ezekiel 8:6 tn Heb “house.”
- Ezekiel 8:10 tn Or “pattern.”
- Ezekiel 8:10 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
- Ezekiel 8:10 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:11 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
- 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).
- Ezekiel 8:14 tn Given the context, this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”
- Ezekiel 8:14 sn The worship of Tammuz included the observation of the annual death and descent into the netherworld of the god Dumuzi. The practice was observed by women in the ancient Near East over a period of centuries.
- 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.
以西结书 8
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
圣城中的可憎之事
8 第六年六月五日，我正在家中与犹大的众长老同坐，主耶和华的能力降在我身上。 2 我观看，只见有一位形状像人，祂的腰部以下像火，腰部以上像闪亮的金属。 3 祂好像伸出一只手，抓住我的头发。在异象中，灵把我举到天地之间，将我带到耶路撒冷圣殿内院的北门，那里供奉着惹耶和华愤恨的神像。 4 我忽然看见那里有以色列上帝的荣耀，跟我在平原所见的一样。
5 祂对我说：“人子啊，你举目北望。”于是，我举目朝北一望，见在祭坛门的北面有惹耶和华愤恨的神像。 6 祂又对我说：“人子啊，你看见以色列人的所作所为了吗？他们在这里行那些极其可憎的事，以致我远离我的圣所。你会看到更可憎的事。”
7 祂带我到院子的门口，我看见墙上有一个洞。 8 祂对我说：“人子啊，你挖这墙。”我挖开墙后，看见一道门。 9 祂对我说：“你进去看看他们在这里做的邪恶可憎的事吧。” 10 我进去后，看见四周的墙上画满了各种爬虫、可憎的兽类和以色列人拜的神像。 11 神像前面站着以色列的七十个长老，沙番的儿子雅撒尼亚也在当中，他们每人手中都拿着香炉，烟雾缭绕。 12 祂又对我说：“人子啊，你看见以色列的长老在自己藏神像的房间里暗中所做的了吗？他们说，‘耶和华看不见我们，祂已经抛弃了这片土地。’” 13 祂继续说：“你会看到他们做更可憎的事。”
14 祂带我来到耶和华的殿外院的北门，看见一些妇女坐在那里为搭模斯神像哭泣。 15 祂对我说：“人子啊，你看见了吗？你会看到更可憎的事。”
16 祂带我来到耶和华殿的内院，在殿门口，走廊和祭坛中间约有二十五个人背向耶和华的殿，面向东方朝拜太阳。 17 祂又对我说：“人子啊，你看见了吗？犹大人的这些可憎行径还算小事吗？他们到处行残暴之事，再三惹我发怒，手拿树枝举向鼻前祭拜偶像。 18 因此，我必愤怒地对待他们，我必不顾惜他们，也不怜悯他们，即使他们大声向我呼求，我也不听。”
Ezekiel 8
New King James Version
Abominations in the Temple
8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with (A)the elders of Judah sitting before me, that (B)the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. 2 (C)Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, (D)like the color of amber. 3 He (E)stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and (F)the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and (G)brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, (H)where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which (I)provokes[a] to jealousy. 4 And behold, the (J)glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I (K)saw in the plain.
5 Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.
6 Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great (L)abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” 7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door.
9 And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” 10 So I went in and saw, and there—every (M)sort of (N)creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, [b]portrayed all around on the walls. 11 And there stood before them (O)seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick 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 do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, (P)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”
13 And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” 14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for [c]Tammuz.
15 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” 16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, (Q)between the porch and the altar, (R)were about twenty-five men (S)with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping (T)the sun toward the east.
17 And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have (U)filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. 18 (V)Therefore I also will act in fury. My (W)eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they (X)cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 8:3 Arouses the Lord’s jealousy
- Ezekiel 8:10 Or carved
- Ezekiel 8:14 A Sumerian fertility god similar to the Gr. god Adonis
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
