2 Tawarikh 33:4-7

33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” ¹  33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 33:6 He passed his sons through the fire ²  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. ³  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. ⁴  33:7 He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 8:5-16

8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ⁶  the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people ⁷  of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

8:7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8:8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.

8:9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure ⁸  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ⁹  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ¹⁰  8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ¹²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

8:12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? ¹³  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 8:13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”

8:14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed ¹⁴  women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵  8:15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ¹⁶  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ¹⁷  were about twenty-five ¹⁸  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ¹⁹  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ²⁰  toward the east!

[33:4]  ¹ tn Heb “In Jerusalem my name will be permanently.”

[33:6]  ² tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

[33:6]  ³ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

[33:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

[33:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name permanently” (or perhaps “forever”).

[8:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”

[8:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[8:10]  ⁸ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

[8:10]  ¹⁰ sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).

[8:11]  ¹¹ sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).

[8:11]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[8:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  sn This type of image is explicitly prohibited in the Mosaic law (Lev 26:1).

[8:14]  ¹⁴ tn Given the context this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”

[8:14]  ¹⁵ sn The worship of Tammuz included the observation of the annual death and descent into the netherworld of the god Dumuzi. The practice was observed by women in the ancient Near East over a period of centuries.

[8:16]  ¹⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ¹⁷ sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).

[8:16]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

[8:16]  tn Or “exactly twenty-five.”

[8:16]  ¹⁹ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “the sun god.”

[8:16]  sn The worship of astral entities may have begun during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:5).