Bible Strands
Ezekiel 23:38
They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel pronounces this declaration to the house of Israel concerning the symbolic cities of Oholah and Oholibah. He speaks at the precise moment their idolatrous rebellion reaches its peak through simultaneous sacrilege and Sabbath violation.
The words — The Hebrew טִמְּאוּ (ti'meu) translates literally as "they have made unclean," denoting the ritual contamination of the sanctuary. This defilement occurs on the identical day they profane the Sabbaths, linking the two violations temporally.
The thread — The combination of sanctuary defilement and covenant breaking mirrors the wilderness rebellion detailed in Ezekiel 20:13. It also aligns with the historical temple desecration recorded in 2 Kings 21:7.
Why it lands — The text establishes that ritual presence cannot offset active idolatry or covenant breaking. It requires a reader to acknowledge that violating sacred time and space actively severs the relationship it claims to uphold.
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
Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 20:13 Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
- 2 Kings 21:7 Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.
- Ezekiel 7:20 His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.
- Ezekiel 20:24 For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.
- 2 Kings 21:4 Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”
- 2 Kings 23:11 And he removed from the entrance to the house of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the chamber of an official named Nathan-melech. And Josiah burned up the chariots of the sun.
- Nehemiah 13:17 Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?
- Jeremiah 17:27 But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.’”
- Ezekiel 8:5 “Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.” So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar Gate I saw this idol of jealousy.
- Ezekiel 22:8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.