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Ezekiel 8:16

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16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
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Ezekiel 8:16 in Other Translations

KJV
16 And 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.
ESV
16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.
NLT
16 Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD ’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the LORD . They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!
MSG
16 Finally, he took me to the inside court of the Temple of God. There between the porch and the altar were about twenty-five men. Their backs were to God's Temple. They were facing east, bowing in worship to the sun.
CSB
16 So He brought me to the inner court of the Lord's house, and there were about 25 men at the entrance of the Lord's temple, between the portico and the altar, with their backs to the Lord's temple and their faces [turned] to the east. They were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

Ezekiel 8:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 8:16

And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house,
&c.] The court of the priests, where they offered sacrifice, and into which none might come but themselves: and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch
and the altar;
the porch that led into the temple, and the brasen altar, the altar of burnt offerings, which was a very sacred place, and reckoned more holy than the court of the priests F7 [were] about five and twenty men;
the number, more or less, not being exactly known; who they were, whether the priests or princes of the people, is not certain; probably some of both: with their backs towards the temple of the Lord;
that is, the most holy place, which they were obliged to, in order to do what is afterwards affirmed of them; for the sanctuary was built to the west, that in their worship the Jews might not look to the east, as the Gentiles did; wherefore these men, that they might imitate the Gentiles in their idolatry, turned their backs to the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt on God, his worship, and the place of it: and their faces towards the east:
when the sun rises: and they worshipped the sun towards the east;
as many nations did, though forbidden the Jews by an express law of God, ( Deuteronomy 4:19 ) ( Deuteronomy 17:2 Deuteronomy 17:3 ) ; yet this they fell into, and had horses and chariots devoted to this idolatry; see ( 2 Kings 21:3 2 Kings 21:5 ) ( 2 Kings 23:5 2 Kings 23:11 ) . The word rendered "worshipped" is compounded of two words; one signifying to "corrupt", the other to "worship": showing that, by worshipping the sun, they corrupted themselves, and the house of God; and so the Targum renders it,

``and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping in the east the sun;''
and so it is explained in the Jerusalem Talmud,
``they corrupted the temple, and worshipped the sun;''
but Kimchi thinks the word F8 consists of the verb in the past tense, and of the participle; and that the sense is, when the prophet saw the men worshipping the sun to the east, as amazed at it, put this question to those that went in, "do ye worship also?" F9 so Ben Melech.
FOOTNOTES:

F7 Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 184. 4.
F8 (Mtywxtvm) .
F9 Vid. Hottinger. Smegma Orientale, l. 3. par. 1. c. 24. p. 154. who rather is of opinion that the word is compounded of the participle and the particle (ta) , or the pronoun (Mta) .
Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Ezekiel 8:16 In-Context

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz.
15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”
16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!
18 Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Cross References 4

  • 1. ver 3
  • 2. Joel 2:17
  • 3. S Genesis 1:16
  • 4. Deuteronomy 4:19; S Deuteronomy 17:3; S Job 31:28; S Jeremiah 2:27; Ezekiel 9:6; Ezekiel 11:1,12; Ezekiel 40:6; Ezekiel 43:1
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