Ezechiel 8:17
And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: is this a light thing to the house of Juda, that they should commit these abominations which they have committed here: because they have filled the land with iniquity, and have turned to provoke me to anger? and behold they put a branch to their nose.
Open Ezechiel 8:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et dixit ad me : Certe vidisti, fili hominis : numquid leve est hoc domui Juda, ut facerent abominationes istas quas fecerunt hic, quia replentes terram iniquitate, conversi sunt ad irritandum me ? et ecce applicant ramum ad nares suas.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς μέ Ἑόρακας, υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου; μὴ μικρὰ τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰούδα τοῦ ποιεῖν τὰς ἀνομίας ἃς πεποιήκασιν ὧδε; διότι ἔπλησαν τὴν γῆν ἀνομίας, καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτοὶ ὡς μυκτηρίζοντες.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלַי֮ הֲרָאִ֣יתָ בֶן אָדָם֒ הֲנָקֵל֙ לְבֵ֣ית יְהוּדָ֔ה מֵעֲשׂ֕וֹת אֶת הַתּוֹעֵב֖וֹת אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָֽשׂוּ פֹ֑ה כִּֽי מָלְא֨וּ אֶת הָאָ֜רֶץ חָמָ֗ס וַיָּשֻׁ֨בוּ֙ לְהַכְעִיסֵ֔נִי וְהִנָּ֛ם שֹׁלְחִ֥ים אֶת הַזְּמוֹרָ֖ה אֶל אַפָּֽם
Haydock's commentary
Nose, to hide their faces respectfully, (Calmet) when they look at the sun rising. (Haydock)
A thyrsus was used in honour of Bacchus, who is often confounded with the sun. Various improbable versions of this text are given. It may signify Hebrew, "they threw their instruments down before their faces," like the twenty-four elders, Apocalypse v. 8. (Calmet)
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. …