Ezekiel 8:16

Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ¹  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ²  were about twenty-five ³  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ⁴  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ⁵  toward the east!

De 4:19; De 17:3; 1Ki 8:29; 2Ki 16:14; 2Ki 23:5,11; 2Ch 7:7; 2Ch 29:6; Job 31:26-28; Jer 2:27; Jer 32:33; Jer 44:17; Eze 10:3; Eze 11:1; Eze 23:35; Eze 40:28; Eze 43:5; Eze 45:19; Joe 2:17; Ac 7:42,43

¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

² 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).

³ 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.”

⁴ sn The temple faced east.

⁵ tn Or “the sun god.”

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