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Ezekiel 8 describes 25 men in the temple turning east to worship the sun, an act of idolatry. The Greek Septuagint changes this to twenty, a detail that may connect to the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, who was associated with the number twenty.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ezekiel 8:16
Hebrew Bible
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 at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, facing east—they were worshiping the sun 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!
Date: 6th century BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Ezekiel 8:16
Septuagint
15 And he said to me, Son of man, you have seen; but you shall yet see evil practices greater than these. 16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty men, with their back parts toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces turned the opposite way; and these were worshipping the sun. 17 And he said to me, Son of man, you have seen this. Is it a little thing to the house of Juda to practise the iniquities which they have practised here? for they have filled the land with iniquity: and, look, these are as scorners.
Date: 1st century BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Septuagint reads “twenty” instead of “twenty-five,” perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash. ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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