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LXX Ezekiel

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 8

1 And it happened in the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in the house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me: and the hand of the Lord came upon me. 2 And I looked, and, look, the likeness of a man: from his waist and downwards there was fire, and from his waist upwards there was as the appearance of amber. 3 And he stretched forth the likeness of a hand, and took me by the crown of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God, to the porch of the inner gate that looks to the north, where was the pillar of the Purchaser. 4 And, look, the glory of the Lord God of Israel was there, according to the vision which I saw in the plain. 5 And he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and, look, I looked from the north toward the eastern gate. 6 And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what these do? They commit great abominations here so that I should keep away from my sanctuary: and you shall see yet greater iniquities. 7 And he brought me to the porch of the court. 8 And he said to me, Son of man, dig: so I dug, and look, a door. 9 And he said to me, Go in, and look at the iniquities which they practice here. 10 So I went in and looked; and saw vain abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon them all around. 11 And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood in their presence in the midst of them, and each one held his censer in his hand; and the smoke of the incense went up. 12 And he said to me, You have seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do, each one of them in their secret chamber: because they have said, The Lord does not see; The Lord has forsaken the earth. 13 And he said to me, You shall see yet greater iniquities which these do. 14 And he brought me in to the porch of the gate of the house of the Lord that looks to the north; and, look, there were women sitting there lamenting for Tammuz. 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 worshiping the sun. 17 And he said to me, Son of man, you have seen this. Is it a little thing to the house of Judah to practice the iniquities which they have practiced here? for they have filled the land with iniquity: and, look, these are as scorners.⁠ 18 Therefore I will deal with them in fierce anger: my eye shall not spare, nor will I have any mercy.

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 8:16 and LXX Ezekiel 8:16

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

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.

Passages

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!
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

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 worshiping the sun. 17 And he said to me, Son of man, you have seen this. Is it a little thing to the house of Judah to practice the iniquities which they have practiced here? for they have filled the land with iniquity: and, look, these are as scorners.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Ezekiel

References

"... The Septuagint reads “twenty” instead of “twenty-five,” perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash. ..."
W. Hall Harris, NET Bible (Biblical Studies, 2019), 511.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Ezekiel 8:16 and LXX Ezekiel 8:16

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