Yehezkiel 8:1

A Desecrated Temple

8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, ¹  as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand ²  of the sovereign Lord seized me. ³ 

Yehezkiel 8:11

8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ⁴  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ⁵  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

[8:1]  ¹ tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”

[8:1]  sn In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month would be September 17, 592 b.c., about fourteen months after the initial vision.

[8:1]  ² tn Or “power.”

[8:1]  sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).

[8:1]  ³ tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.

[8:11]  ⁴ sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).

[8:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.