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Ezekiel 8:5

in Ezekiel 8

“Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.” So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar Gate I saw this idol of jealousy.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

KJV

Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

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This verse in Ezekiel 8

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Verse 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 behold, north of the altar gate was the idol of jealousy in the entrance. Because we have set up the idol of jealousy north of the altar gate, the seventy translators have translated it as: From the north to the east gate, which is not found in Hebrew; leaving out the rest of what is written there.

This site's exposition

Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north

on Ezekiel 8:5-6

The guide names the first abomination directly, the image of jealousy at the gate of the altar, and asks the question the whole chapter will keep repeating, seest thou what they do? The reason given is the plainest statement in Scripture of what idolatry costs a sanctuary, that I should go far off from my sanctuary, the glory's own withdrawal named as the consequence before the tour has even reached the worst of what is hidden. Henry notes that an idol set up at the very gate of the altar, the place nearest the true worship, is a provocation sharper than one set up at a distance, and turn thee yet again promises worse still to come.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Northward - Ahaz had removed it from the middle of the court and set it near this north gate, to which it gave name. Entry - In the very passage to the temple, to affront the worship of God.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֵלַ֔יto me

    ʾelaiH413 →5510 times

  • בֶּן־O son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • אָדָ֕םhumankind

    ʾadamH120 →551 times

  • שָׂא־lift up

    sa'-H5375 →656 times

  • נָ֥אplease

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • עֵינֶ֖יךָeyes your

    ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 times

  • דֶּ֣רֶךְ[the] direction

    derekhH1870 →707 times

  • צָפ֑וֹנָהnorth -ward

    tzafonahH6828 →153 times

  • וָאֶשָּׂ֤אand I lifted up

    vaesa'H5375 →656 times

  • עֵינַי֙eyes my

    ʾeinaiH5869 →887 times

  • דֶּ֣רֶךְ[the] direction

    derekhH1870 →707 times

  • צָפ֔וֹנָהnorth -ward

    tzafonahH6828 →153 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֤הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • מִצָּפוֹן֙from [the] north

    mitzafonH6828 →153 times

  • לְשַׁ֣עַרof [the] gate of

    leshaarH8179 →374 times

  • הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַthe altar

    hamizbeachH4196 →401 times

  • סֵ֛מֶל[the] idol of

    semelH5566 →

  • הַקִּנְאָ֥ה<the> jealousy

    hakinahH7068 →43 times

  • הַזֶּ֖ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • בַּבִּאָֽה׃[was] in the entrance

    babiahH872 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezekiel 8:3He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.4 worksJeremiah 3:2“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.3 worksZechariah 5:5–11Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”2 worksPsalms 78:58They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.2 worksJeremiah 32:34They have placed their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.2 worksPsalms 48:2Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Deuteronomy 29:20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven2 worksEzekiel 40:45Then the man said to me: “The chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple,2 worksLeviticus 1:11He shall slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests are to sprinkle its blood against the altar on all sides.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 78:58

    They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 32:21

      They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will…

    • Leviticus 26:30

      I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

    • 1 Kings 12:31

      Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 8:3

    He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God…

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 32:16

      They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

    • Ezekiel 11:1

      Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them…

    • Ezekiel 5:11

      Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon…

    • Deuteronomy 5:9

      You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 32:34

    They have placed their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 7:30

      For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 8 →

This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 8 →