Bible Strands
Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel pronounces judgment on Jerusalem, addressing the city's corrupt religious leadership during a period of systemic moral and covenantal failure.
The words — חָמְס֣וּ (cha.me.Su) means they have done violence to, and וַ/יְחַלְּל֣וּ (va/y.cha.le.Lu) means they have profaned. These terms describe the priests' active violation of Torah and desecration of sacred objects.
The thread — This indictment echoes Leviticus 10:10's command to distinguish holy from common, and parallels Ezekiel 22:8's charge of despising holy things and profaning Sabbaths. It also points forward to Ezekiel 44:23, where restored priests are commanded to teach the difference between clean and unclean.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that religious leadership must enforce covenant boundaries without compromise. It requires readers to assess whether their own practices honor God's standards or blur sacred distinctions for convenience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 10:10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
- Ezekiel 22:8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
- Ezekiel 44:23 They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.
- Malachi 2:8 But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- 1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
- Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”
- 1 Samuel 2:22 Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you return, I will restore you; you will stand in My presence. And if you speak words that are noble instead of worthless, you will be My spokesman. It is they who must turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
- Ezekiel 36:20 And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land.’