Ezechiel 8:16
And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord: and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men having their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces to the east: and they adored towards the rising of the sun.
Open Ezechiel 8:16 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et introduxit me in atrium domus Domini interius, et ecce in ostio templi Domini, inter vestibulum et altare, quasi viginti quinque viri dorsa habentes contra templum Domini, et facies ad orientem : et adorabant ad ortum solis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἰσήγαγέν με εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν οἴκου Κυρίου τὴν ἐσωτέραν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν προθύρων τοῦ ναοῦ Κυρίου ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν αἰλὰμ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ὡς εἴκοσι ἄνδρες, τὰ ὀπίσθια αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ἀπέναντι, καὶ οὗτοι προσκυνοῦσιν τῷ ἡλίῳ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיָּבֵ֣א אֹתִ֗י אֶל חֲצַ֣ר בֵּית יְהוָה֮ הַפְּנִימִית֒ וְהִנֵּה פֶ֜תַח הֵיכַ֣ל יְהוָ֗ה בֵּ֤ין הָֽאוּלָם֙ וּבֵ֣ין הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ כְּעֶשְׂרִ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּׁ֖ה אִ֑ישׁ אֲחֹ֨רֵיהֶ֜ם אֶל הֵיכַ֤ל יְהוָה֙ וּפְנֵיהֶ֣ם קֵ֔דְמָה וְהֵ֛מָּה מִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶ֥ם קֵ֖דְמָה לַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ
Haydock's commentary
Men. Twelve priests and as many Levites officiated daily. The high priest made the twenty-fifth, 1 Paralipomenon xxiv.
Sun. They prayed to God, turning their faces to the west: but here they despised him, and adored the sun, Job xxxi. 26. (Calmet)
This posture was common. Illi ad surgentem conversi lumina solum. (Virgil, Æneid xii.) (Serv.)
Christians did the like, though the reason is not ascertained. (Calmet)
It might be because Christ is the orient, and not to resemble the Jews. There was no danger of their being taken for idolaters. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
The Apostolic Constitutions Book V, Sec. II. All Association with Idols is to Be Avoided
XII . Nor do the legislators give us only prohibitions concerning idols, but also warn us concerning the luminaries, not to swear by them, nor to serve them. For they say: “Lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, thou shouldest be seduced to worship them.” And elsewhere: “Do not ye learn to walk after the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven.” For the stars and the luminaries were given to men to shine upon them, but not for worship; although the Israelites, by the perverseness of their temper, “worshipped the creature instead of the Creator,” and acted insultingly to their Maker, and admired the creature more than is fit. …