Ézéchiel 8:17

Darby's French Translation

Et il me dit: As-tu vu, fils d'homme? Est-ce une chose légère à la maison de Juda de commettre les abominations qu'ils commettent ici, pour qu'ils remplissent encore le pays de violence, et qu'ils me provoquent à colère toujours de nouveau? Et voici, ils mettent le rameau à leur nez!

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Alors il me dit : fils d'homme, n'as-tu pas vu? est-ce une chose l�g�re � la maison de Juda de commettre ces abominations qu'ils commettent ici? car ils ont rempli le pays de violence, et ils se sont [ainsi] tourn�s pour m'irriter; mais voici ils mettent une �charde � leurs nez.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Alors il me dit: As-tu vu, fils de l'homme? Est-ce trop peu pour la maison de Juda, de commettre les abominations qu'ils commettent ici, pour qu'ils remplissent encore le pays de violence et qu'ils ne cessent de m'irriter? Voici, ils approchent le rameau de leur narine!

Louis Segond (1910)
Et il me dit: Vois-tu, fils de l'homme? Est-ce trop peu pour la maison de Juda de commettre les abominations qu'ils commettent ici? Faut-il encore qu'ils remplissent le pays de violence, et qu'ils ne cessent de m'irriter? Voici, ils approchent le rameau de leur nez.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Is it a light: etc. or, Is there anything lighter than to commit, etc

for: Ezekiel 7:23, Ezekiel 9:9, Ezekiel 11:6, Genesis 6:13, 2 Kings 21:16, 2 Kings 24:4, Jeremiah 6:7, Jeremiah 19:4, Jeremiah 20:8, Amos 3:10, Amos 6:3, Micah 2:2, Micah 6:12, Zephaniah 1:9

they put: So the Vulgate has, applicant ramum ad nares suas "they apply the branch to their nose;" which Jerome explains by "a branch of the palm tree with which they adored the idols;" and it seems plainly to allude to the Magian fire-worshippers, who, Strabo tells us, held a little bunch of twigs in their hand, when praying before the fire.

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:11 - filled 1 Kings 14:9 - to provoke 1 Kings 16:31 - as if it had been a light thing 2 Kings 3:18 - a light 2 Kings 23:19 - to provoke the Lord Job 41:10 - dare Ecclesiastes 7:17 - not Isaiah 1:15 - when Isaiah 3:8 - to provoke Isaiah 65:3 - A people Jeremiah 7:19 - they provoke Jeremiah 44:3 - of their Jeremiah 51:5 - though Lamentations 1:5 - for Ezekiel 8:6 - seest Ezekiel 8:12 - hast Ezekiel 16:20 - Is this Ezekiel 16:47 - as if that were a very little thing Ezekiel 18:12 - hath committed Ezekiel 24:8 - it might Ezekiel 28:16 - filled Ezekiel 47:6 - hast thou Amos 8:2 - Amos Micah 6:16 - that

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then he said unto me, hast thou seen [this], O son of man?.... Took notice of and considered this piece of idolatry, worshipping the sun toward the east:

is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? could these things, which are such dreadful abominations, committed here in the temple, be reckoned light things by them, as surely they cannot? yet these are not all that they have done:

for they have filled the land with violence; with rapine and oppression; doing injury to the poor and needy, the widow and the fatherless, in all places:

and have returned to provoke me to anger; by other instances of idolatry:

and, lo, they put the branch to their nose; a laurel, or olive, or vine branch, which idolaters carried in their hands, and put to their nose, in honour of the idol they worshipped; in like manner as they kissed their hand at the sight of the sun, Job 31:26; and which the Jews did in imitation of the Heathen. This is one of the eighteen places in which there is "tikkun sopherim", or a "correction of the scribes"; who, instead of "my nose", direct to read "their nose"; hence the words are differently interpreted by the Jewish commentators; who, by זמורה, rendered "branch", think an ill smell is meant; arising either from their posteriors, their back being towards the temple; or from the incense which they offered up to their idols; so Kimchi and Menachem in Jarchi; agreeably to which Fortunatus Scacchus k understands this, not of any branch used by idolaters, which they put to the nose of their idol, or their own, for the honour of that; but of the censer which the Israelites used, contrary to the command of God, and which they put to their nose to enjoy a forbidden smell; see Ezekiel 16:18; but Gussetius l gives another sense of the words, rendering them, "they send forth a branch to their anger"; the Israelites are compared to a vine, as in Isaiah 5:1; sending forth bad branches, idolatrous actions, as here in this chapter; and to these bad branches they sent forth or added another, even anger against God, the prophets, true believers, and right worshippers of God; and therefore he also would deal in fury and wrath, as in Ezekiel 8:18; so Dr. Lightfoot m renders it,

""they send the branch to my wrath", or "to their own wrath"; that is, to what they have deserved; as if it was said, in the same manner that anyone puts wood to the fire, the branch of the wild vine, that it may the more quickly be burnt; so do these put the branch to my wrath, that it may burn the more fiercely; hence it follows, "therefore will I also deal in fury", c.''

The Targum is,

"and, lo, they bring shame (or confusion) to their faces''

what they do turns to their own ruin and destruction; as follows:

k Sacror. Eleaochr. Myrothec. l. 2. p. 536. l Ebr. Comment. p. 231. m Heb. & Talmud. Exercitat. in Johan. xv. 6.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“Violence” represents sin against man, “abominations” sins against God. These went hand in hand in Jerusalem.

And have returned - After the reformation effected for a time by Josiah’s zeal, they have gone back to their old state.

They put the branch to their nose - An allusion to a then familiar practice, of which we find no clear traces elsewhere. Ezekiel is describing the attitude usual in such devotions, the branch held before the mouth, but wishing to represent it in contemptuous and derogatory terms, he substitutes the word “nose” for “mouth.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 8:17. They put the branch to their nose. — This is supposed to mean some branch or branches, which they carried in succession in honour of the idol, and with which they covered their faces, or from which they inhaled a pleasant smell, the branches being odoriferous. That the heathens carried branches of trees in their sacred ceremonies is well known to all persons acquainted with classic antiquity; and it is probable that the heathen borrowed those from the use of such branches in the Jewish feast of tabernacles. There are many strange, and some filthy, interpretations given of this clause; but the former are not worth repeating, and I abominate the latter too much to submit to defile my paper with them. Probably the Brahminic Linga is here intended.

It really seems that at this time the Jews had incorporated every species of idolatry in their impure worship, - Phoenician, Egyptian, and Persian. I might add that some imagine the image of jealousy to be a personification of idolatry itself.