Ezekiel 8:5-18 - Pagan Practices In The Temple
5 And he said to me, "Son of man, lift up now your eyes {toward the north}." And I lifted up my eyes {toward the north}, and, look, [there was] to the north of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy at the entrance. 6 And he said to me, "Son of man, "{Do you see} what they [are] doing--great detestable things that the house of Israel [is] committing here [so as] to drive [me] from my sanctuary, and yet {you will see again} greater detestable things."
7 And he brought me to the doorway of the courtyard, and I saw, and look! A hole in the wall. 8 And he said to me, "Son of man, dig now through the wall." And I dug through the wall, and look! There was a doorway. 9 And he said to me, "Come and see the detestable things, the evil that they are doing here. 10 And I came, and I saw, and look, all kinds of creatures and detestable beasts; [and] all of the idols of the house of Israel [were] carved on the wall {all around}.
11 And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, [was] standing in the midst of them, [and] [they were] standing {before them}. Each [one] [had] his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of the incense [was] going up. 12 And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel [are] doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for [they are] saying, 'Yahweh [is] not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.'" 13 And he said to me, "Still {you will see again} greater detestable things that they [are] doing."
14 And he brought me to the doorway of the gate of the house of Yahweh that [is] toward the north, and look! There [were] the women sitting weeping for Tammuz. 15 And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man? Still {you will see again} greater detestable things than these."
16 And he brought me to the inner courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and look, [at] the doorway of the temple of Yahweh, between the portico and the altar, [there were] about twenty-five men [with] their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east, and they [were] bowing down toward the east before the sun. 17 And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man? {Was it too small a thing} for the house of Judah {to do} the detestable things that they did here? For they filled up the land [with] violence, and {they provoked me to anger again}, and look! They [are] putting the branch to their nose. 18 And so I will act in rage, and my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion, and they will cry in my ear [with] a loud voice, and I will not hear them."