"... Worship of the sun was practiced in Judah in the seventh century. Josiah is said to have suppressed it, destroying horses and chariots dedicated to the sun and deposing priests who made offerings to it (2 Kings 23). Whether “putting the branch to their nose” (Ezekiel 8:17) is a reference to a ritual is much disputed. No such ritual is known. It may be that the text should be emended to read, “putting the branch to my nose” - an idiomatic way of saying, “provoking me.” There is also a reference to “filling the land with violence” in 8:17. Since all the other offenses are cultic, some scholars have thought that this is an insertion. In any case, it is clear that Ezekiel is primarily disturbed by cultic offenses ..."

"... Kethib 'pm, 'their nose,' is a euphemistic alteration of an original 'py, 'my nose,' which the scribes modified to remove an objectionable anthropomorphism. On such intentional alterations (tiqqune sopherim) see E. Wurthwein, The Text of the Old Testament ..." [footnote 76, p.297] "... Perhaps interpreters' preoccupation with a cultic interpretation has caused them to overlook the link with the preceding reference to violent social crimes. In context this statement seems to offer an idiomatic summary of the entire complex of crimes portrayed in the foregoing scenes. 'Sticking the branch to the nose' may simply describe an insulting physical gesture, here employed euphemistically to express how Yahweh feels about the way his subjects have treated him ..."

"... The obscure expression at the end of the verse ("reach the vine-branch to their noses") is not connected with the temple abominations, which are superseded in verse 17a, but with the social wrongdoing of verse 17b. Its general sense (as rendered in a note in NJPS) is "goad me to fury" (the Greek translation reads "sneering, turning up their noses"); the specific sense is beyond us, but it is noteworthy that Jewish tradition regards the suffix of 'appam "their nose" as a euphemism (tiqqun sopherim) for 'appi "my nose." This suggests some provocative gesture directed at God ..."

"... The Masoretic Text says "their nose," but this is an explicit "scribal correction," introducing a kind of euphemism in order not to say something offensive relating to God. But the meaning of the expression is elusive. The attempt by some to link zemorah, "vine branch," with a homonymous root that means "strength" is far-fetched—the clear meaning of the word is "vine branch." ..."

"... The tiqqune soferim, "corrections of the scribes," recorded in the Masorah, are words referred to in the Masorah as representing early corrections by the soferim. The Masorah records for these "corrected words" the specific words representing the presumed uncorrected, original text. According to various sources, the scribes corrected the text in several places — 8 (7) according to Sifre 84 (pp. 81-82) to Numbers 10:35, and 11 (9) according to Mekhilta Shirata 6 to Exodus 15:7 (the various manuscripts of these compositions contain different items), and 18 according to additional sources. The list in the Mekhilta to Exodus 15:7 contains the following eleven instances (in this sequence in the edition of Horowitz): Zechariah 2:12; Malachi 1:13; 1 Samuel 3:13; Job 7:20; Habakkuk 1:12; Jeremiah 2:11; Psalm 106:20; Numbers 11:15; 1 Kings 12:16; Ezekiel 8:17; Numbers 12:12. For these verses the rabbis use two main terms, namely, "the verse uses a euphemism," in the early sources (Sifre 84 to Numbers 10:35; Mekhilta to Exodus 15:7) and tiqqun, "correction," in the later lists. The two terms may reflect ancient conflicting views of the phenomenon, that is, either euphemisms or ancient textual corrections. However, since the terms are used in lists of different dates, it is more likely that the differences in terminology reflect a development in conception. Probably the tradition originally referred to mere "euphemisms" (substitutions) and only afterwards were they taken as corrections. Another common characteristic of the corrections of the scribes is that most of them correct merely one or two letters, principally the pronominal suffix. If the corrections had represented changes in the text, it is hard to believe that the correctors would have limited themselves to such small details. ..."