Ezekiel 8

Ezekiel 8:1

In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.

Ezekiel 8:1 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:2

Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright as the gleam of amber.

Ezekiel 8:2 · BSB

amber Amber is a hard , inflammable , bituminous substance , of a beautiful yellow colour , very transparent , and susceptible of an exquisite polish. When rubbed it is highly endowed with electricity; a name which the moderns have formed from its Greek name חכוךפסןם. But , as amber becomes dim as soon as it feels the fire , and is speedily consumed , it is probable that the original chashmal which Bochart derives from the Chaldee nechash copper , and melala gold , was a mixed metal , similar to that which the Greeks called חכוךפסןם , electrum , as the LXX and Vulgate render , from its resemblance to amber in colour.

Ezekiel 8:3

He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.

Ezekiel 8:3 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:4

And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain.

Ezekiel 8:4 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:5

“Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.” So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar Gate I saw this idol of jealousy.

Ezekiel 8:5 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:6

“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”

Ezekiel 8:6 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:7

Then He brought me to the entrance to the court, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall.

Ezekiel 8:7 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:8

“Son of man,” He told me, “dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and discovered a doorway.

Ezekiel 8:8 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:9

Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

Ezekiel 8:9 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:10

So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 8:10 · BSB

and behold These images portrayed on the wall were no doubt the objects of Egyptian idolatry , the ox , ape , crocodile , ibis , beetle , etc. , as we find those idols were painted on the walls of the tombs of kings and nobles.

Ezekiel 8:11

Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

Ezekiel 8:11 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:12

“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”

Ezekiel 8:12 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:13

Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”

Ezekiel 8:13 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:14

Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.

Ezekiel 8:14 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:15

“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”

Ezekiel 8:15 · BSB

Ezekiel 8:16

So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

Ezekiel 8:16 · BSB

and they It seems that the Jews had incorporated every species of idolatry into their worship , Egyptian , Phoenician , and Persian; for this evidently was the Magian worship of the sun.

Ezekiel 8:17

“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!

Ezekiel 8:17 · BSB

Is it a light etc. or , Is there anything lighter than to commit , etc

they put So the Vulgate has , applicant ramum ad nares suas "they apply the branch to their nose;" which Jerome explains by "a branch of the palm tree with which they adored the idols;" and it seems plainly to allude to the Magian fire-worshippers , who , Strabo tells us , held a little bunch of twigs in their hand , when praying before the fire.

Ezekiel 8:18

Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”

Ezekiel 8:18 · BSB