Ezekiel 8:5-18 - Pagan Practices In The Temple
5 And He said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now to the way of the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar the image of jealousy was at the entrance. 6 And He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they do; even the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? But turn again, and you shall see greater abominations.
7 And He brought me to the opening of the court; and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall. 8 And He said to me, Son of man, dig in the wall now. And I dug in the wall, and, behold, an opening. 9 And he said to me. Go in and see the evil abominations that they do here. 10 And I went in and saw. And behold, every kind of creeping thing, and hateful beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.
11 And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, standing among them, these were before them, and each man with his censor in his hand. And the odor of the cloud of incense was rising. 12 And He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his image room? For they are saying, Jehovah does not see us; Jehovah has forsaken the earth. 13 He also said to me, You turn again, and you shall see greater evils that they are doing.
14 And He brought me to the opening of the gate of Jehovah's house, toward the north. And behold, women were sitting there, weeping for Tammuz. 15 And He said to me, Have you seen, O son of man? Turn yet again, and you shall see greater evils than these.
16 And He brought me into the inner court of Jehovah's house, and behold, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah and their faces toward the east; and they bowed themselves eastward to the sun. 17 And He said to me, Have you seen, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they do the hateful things which they do here? For they have filled the land with violence and have turned to provoke Me to anger. And lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18 And I will also deal with fury; My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.