Yehezkiel 8:17

8:17 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! ¹ 

Yehezkiel 8:1

A Desecrated Temple

8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, ²  as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand ³  of the sovereign Lord seized me. ⁴ 

Kisah Para Rasul 16:31

16:31 They replied, ⁵  “Believe ⁶  in the Lord Jesus ⁷  and you will be saved, you and your household.”

[8:17]  ¹ tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”

[8:1]  ² tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”

[8:1]  sn In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month would be September 17, 592 b.c., about fourteen months after the initial vision.

[8:1]  ³ tn Or “power.”

[8:1]  sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).

[8:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.

[16:31]  ⁵ tn Grk “said.”

[16:31]  ⁶ sn Here the summary term of response is a call to believe. In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.

[16:31]  ⁷ tc The majority of mss add Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) here (C D E Ψ 1739 Ï sy sa), but the best and earliest witnesses read simply τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton kurion Ihsoun, “the Lord Jesus”; Ì^74vid א A B 33 81 pc bo). The addition of “Christ” to “Lord Jesus” is an obviously motivated reading. Thus on both external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.