in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
Parallel Translations
-
in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
-
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
-
in that ye have brought in aliens, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, even My house, when ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken My covenant, to add unto all your abominations.
Cross-references (33)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 44:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 22:25 You must not offer any of these as the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner, because their corruption is in them. There is a defect in them. They shall not be accepted for you.’ ”
- Jeremiah 9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
- Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- Genesis 17:14 The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”
- Leviticus 26:41 I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity,
- Ezekiel 44:9 The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
- Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
- Malachi 1:12-14 “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’ You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it”, says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says Yahweh. “But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a defective thing; for I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”
- Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Acts 21:28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover, he also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place!”
- Exodus 12:48 When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
- Leviticus 3:13-17 He shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. He shall offer from it as his offering, an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s. “ ‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’ ”
- Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.
- Leviticus 21:6 They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.
- Leviticus 21:8 Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- Leviticus 21:17 “Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.
- Leviticus 21:21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
- Leviticus 26:15 and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
- Deuteronomy 30:6 Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
- Deuteronomy 31:20 For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.
- Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
- Isaiah 56:6-7 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
- Jeremiah 11:10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
- Jeremiah 31:32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 7:20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing.
- Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them.
- Ezekiel 43:7-8 He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door post beside my door post. There was a wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger.
- Malachi 1:7 You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
- John 6:52-58 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
- Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
- Colossians 2:11-13 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
- Hebrews 8:9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For they had brought idolaters which were of other…
For they had brought idolaters which were of other countries, to teach them their idolatry, Ezek. 23:40.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 44:7 In that ye have brought [into my…
Eze 44:7 In that ye have brought [into my sanctuary] strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, [even] my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
Ver. 7. Strangers.] Yourselves are no better; {Amo 9:7} strangers from the covenants; {Eph 2:12} degenerate children, {Isa 1:4} alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you, {Eph 4:18} and through your blind leaders of the blind, priests of your own making, &c.
Read full note →
Uncircumcised in heart.] Erroneous in judgment.
Uncircumcised in flesh.] Enormous in practice.
When ye offer my bread,] i.e., The fat and the blood, as it followeth, which I seem to feed upon as a man doth upon bread.
Because of all your abominations.] Or, Besides all your abominations mentioned. {Eze 44:6}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Ye have brought; either by abusing your power you…
Ye have brought; either by abusing your power you have licensed, or by conniving you have permitted, to come into my holy courts.
Strangers; foreigners and heathen, who had their idols in the very courts of the temple, and there worshipped their idols, as Eze 8:5,10,14,16.
Read full note →
Uncircumcised in heart; the worst of them, profane and impious.
Uncircumcised in flesh: no uncircumcised one should come into the court of the people, but you have brought them into the very sanctuary at the times of public worship, and when you have been offering my bread, &c. Some think that the profane carelessness of the Jewish rulers was such, that they suffered uncircumcised ones to be priests among them, and to approach to God’s altar. This was done in Solomon’s degenerate days, and in the days of Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon.
My bread; either the meat-offering, or first-fruits of corn and dough, and the show-bread.
The fat, which was taken off the sacrifices and burnt.
The blood, how let out, received into vessels, sprinkled and poured out, the priests and rulers of my house, through a sinful familiarity with heathens, have given them courage to ask, and you have not zeal and courage enough to refuse them, but you have satisfied their forbidden curiosity, and showed them all these things; or, as was said, have advanced some to be priests in my house, and suffered others to be priests of idols, standing and worshipped in my courts.
They, the whole nation of the Jews, the people of the land,
have broken my covenant; turned idolaters, mixed with heathens, forsaken me and my law, taking example from your practices, or complying with your superstitious and idolatrous inventions.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,....…
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,.... Unregenerate men, who are in a state of alienation and estrangement to divine and spiritual things: strangers to God; to the true knowledge of him in Christ; to the fear and love of God; to the true grace of God in conversion; and to communion with him: strangers to Christ, to his person and offices; to the way of peace, life, and salvation by him; to his righteousness; to faith in him, love of him, and fellowship with him: strangers to the Spirit; to his person, to regeneration and sanctification by him; to the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, love, humility, self-denial, &c.; to the things of the Spirit, which they neither know nor savour; and to the several offices he performs, as a comforter, the Spirit of adoption, an earnest and sealer: strangers to their own hearts, and the plague of them, and sin that dwells in them: strangers to the nature of sin, and the exceeding sinfulness of it; to the deceitfulness of sin, and the consequences of it; to true repentance for it, and to the right way of atonement of it, by the blood of Christ: strangers to the Gospel of Christ, and the truths of it; and to the saints and people of God:
and uncircumcised in heart; who never were pricked in the heart for sin, or felt any pain there on account of it; never had the hardness of their heart removed, or the impurity of it discovered to them; never were filled with shame and loathing because of it; or ever put off the body of sins in a course of conversation; or renounced their own righteousness:
Read full note →
and uncircumcised in flesh; carnal, as they were born; men in the flesh, in a state of nature, mind and savour the things of the flesh, and do the works of it; having never been taught by the grace of God to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to abstain from fleshly ones: or, who put their trust in the flesh, in outward things, in carnal privileges, and external righteousness: these the Lord complains were brought
to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house: either to be members here, and partake of all the ordinances and privileges of the Lord's house; or to officiate here as priests and ministers of the Lord:
when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood; which, under the law, were the Lord's; and here signify the ministry of the word and ordinances, the goodness and fatness of the Lord's house; and especially the ordinance of the Lord's supper, that feast of fat things; in which Christ, the true and living bread of God, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, is represented to the faith of God's people:
and they have broken my covenant, because of all your abominations: that is, have broken the rule of the divine word and everlasting Gospel by such abominations; by admitting such ministers and members, the one to administer, the other to partake of, Gospel ordinances: this is the true state of the case of most of the reformed churches in our days; it is to be feared that there are multitudes of unregenerate ministers in them; that they are full of carnal professors; and notorious it is that the ordinance of the Lord's supper is prostituted to wicked persons, and to answer ends it never was designed for; which must be an abomination to the Lord.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Bread - Either the meal-offering or first-fruits of corn…
Bread - Either the meal-offering or first-fruits of corn and dough, and the shew-bread. They - The whole nation of the Jews.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. The fat and the blood] These never…
Verse 7. The fat and the blood] These never went into common use; they were wholly offered to God. The blood was poured out; the fat consumed.
Because of all your abominations.] Several MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's read their abominations, referring to the strangers mentioned before.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Flesh. People of this description were not to enter…
Flesh. People of this description were not to enter the temple, which is here called the sanctuary, even though they adored God. In some cases pagans were admitted into any part, except the most holy. Epiphanes (Calmet) and Pompey forced their passage thither, to the great sorrow of the Jews. (Josephus, Jewish Wars i. 5.) See Ecclesiasticus lii., and Acts xxi. 28. --- During the plundering of the city, the Chaldeans did the like; (Lamentations i. 10.; Haydock) and while idols were set up, all rules were neglected. --- Doings. You observe the exterior, and not the spirit of religion.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain uncircumcised in heart--Israelites circumcised outwardly, but wanting the true…
uncircumcised in heart--Israelites circumcised outwardly, but wanting the true circumcision of the heart (Deu 10:16; Act 7:51).
uncircumcised in flesh--not having even the outward badge of the covenant-people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7, 8. Strangers, uncircumcised in heath and uncircumcised in…
7, 8. Strangers, uncircumcised in heath and uncircumcised in flesh — These “aliens” (R.V.) were not excluded from entering the temple and offering sacrifices to Jehovah in their own behalf (Lev_17:8; Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14; Num_15:29), but foreigners (probably slaves or captives in war), who had no sympathy whatever with the Israelitish religion, ought not to be permitted to take official positions in Jehovah’s house, as had sometimes been done (Jos_9:27; 1Sa_2:13; Zec_14:21; Ezr_2:58, Hebrews). Service with the lip or the hand only is an abomination to God. Even otherwise menial services become sacred when done for Jehovah, and it is an insult to him when such services are put upon ignorant and impure foreigners who have no heart loyalty to the lord of the house. (Compare W.R. Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, pp. 260-266.) It was practically breaking covenant with Jehovah to set them as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary (Eze_44:8).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. into my sanctuary strangers] i.e. foreigners. What is…
7. into my sanctuary strangers] i.e. foreigners. What is reprobated is not of course allowing foreigners to present sacrifices to Jehovah, which they might do (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14), but allowing them to officiate in the offering, and in general in the ministry of the sanctuary. It is not ascertainable to what extent these uncircumcised heathen were permitted to fill the subordinate offices about the house, such as those of keepers of the gates and assistants to the priests, but just as the kings employed foreign mercenaries as guards (who were employed even in the temple, 2Ki_11:7), it appears that persons not Israelites and not incorporated in Israel by the necessary rites, were employed in the house. They were probably captives taken in war and the like (Jos_9:27; 1Sa_2:13; Zec_14:21; cf. Ezr_8:20; Ezr_2:58). This is regarded by the prophet as a profanation of the house and an infraction of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. It is the latter from the nature of the case. Israel was the people of the Lord and his service must be performed by Israel. These heathen were uncircumcised both in flesh and heart, their service was purely mercenary, and without religious reality. For “and they have broken” LXX. reads, and ye have broken, which is more exact.
because of all] Perhaps: in addition to all your abominations.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) Strangers, uncircumcised in heart.—The heathen living in Israel,…
(7) Strangers, uncircumcised in heart.—The heathen living in Israel, or coining to worship at the Temple, were allowed, and even in some cases required, to offer sacrifices (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14; Num_15:26; Num_15:29). This seems also to have been recognised in Solomon’s prayer at the consecration of the Temple (1Ki_8:41-43); but the ground on which the Israelites are here censured for the licence given to strangers is, that they allowed those to draw near in worship who were uncircumcised in heart as well as in flesh, i.e., ungodly men who had no real purpose to worship God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The special sin chargeable against Israel in the past…
The special sin chargeable against Israel in the past had been the introduction into the sanctuary, while the priests were engaged in sacrifice, of strangersaliens (Revised Version); literally, sons of a stranger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, in express contravention of Jehovah"s covenant. Ewald, Havernick, Hengstenberg, Schroder, and Currey restrict the designation "strangers" to unfaithful and unauthorized priests, who, as in the days of Israel"s apostasy, notoriously under Jeroboam (1Ki_12:31; 2Ch_11:15) may, in the confluence of idolatries that took place in Jerusalem during the reigns of (2Ki_16:3, 2Ki_16:4, 2Ki_16:10-15; 2Ch_28:2-4, 2Ch_28:23-25) and Manasseh. (2Ki_21:2-7, 2Ki_21:11, 2Ki_21:15; 2Ch_33:2-7) have been admitted to participate in the temple services; but Kliefoth, Delitzsch, Keil, Smend, and Plumptre, with better judgment, recognize in the "strangers" foreigners who had not incorporated themselves with Israel by submitting to circumcision, but, though dwelling in the midst of Israel, were still uncircumcised heathen in both heart and flesh. With regard to these foreigners, the Law of Moses (Lev_17:8, Lev_17:10) enacted that, by accepting circumcision, they might become members of the Israelitish commonwealth, but that without this they could not be permitted to partake of the Passover, the highest symbol of national and religious unity. (Exo_12:48, Exo_12:49) Nevertheless, it was open to them, on giving a certain measure of obedience to the Law (Exo_12:19 Exo_20:10; Lev_17:10, 12 18:26 20:2 24:16, 22) to enter the sanctuary and present all sorts of offerings to Jehovah. (Lev_17:8; Num_15:14, Num_15:29) Hence Israel"s offence had not been the admission of such "sons of the stranger" into the sanctuary, but the admission of them without insisting on the above specified conditions, in other words, the admission of such as not only lacked the bodily mark of circumcision which would not have excluded them but were destitute as well of the first elements of Hebrew piety, i.e. were as uncircumcised in heart as they were in the flesh. The sanctioning of such within the temple courts, while Jehovah"s bread, the fat and the blood, was being offered, i.e. while sacrificial worship was being performed, was not simply a desecration of the "house," but was an express violation of the covenant Jehovah had made with Israel with reference to these very "sons of the stranger."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain In that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers.
Eze_44:7-8
In that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers.
Read full note →
The relation of the stranger to the service of the temple
What is reprobated is not of course allowing foreigners to present sacrifices to Jehovah, which they might do (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12), but allowing them to officiate in the offering, and in general in the ministry of the sanctuary. This is regarded by the prophet as a profanation of the house, and an infraction of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. It is the latter from the nature of the case. Israel was the people of the Lord, and His service must be performed by Israel. These heathen were uncircumcised both in flesh and heart; their service was purely mercenary, and without religious reality. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.