Discovery BoxEzekiel 8:7-10 
Context8:7 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 1 of creeping thing and beast – detestable images 2 – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 3
Ezekiel 8:15-16
Context8:15 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 4 at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, 5 were about twenty-five 6 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, 7 facing east – they were worshiping the sun 8 toward the east!
1 tn Or “pattern.”
2 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
3 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
4 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
5 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).
6 tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.
tn Or “exactly twenty-five.”
7 sn The temple faced east.
8 tn Or “the sun god.”
sn The worship of astral entities may have begun during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:5).
