Bible Strands
Ezekiel 44:7
In addition to all your other abominations, you brought in foreigners uncircumcised in both heart and flesh to occupy My sanctuary; you defiled My temple when you offered My food—the fat and the blood; you broke My covenant.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through Ezekiel to the rebellious house of Israel during a vision detailing sanctuary regulations. This occurs at a moment of judicial pronouncement for allowing unauthorized personnel to defile temple worship.
The words — בְּנֵי־נֵכָר (benê-nēḵār) literally means “sons of foreignness,” and עַרְלֵי לֵב (ʿarle leḇ) translates to “uncircumcised of heart.” These terms describe the foreign agents brought into the sanctuary who lacked covenant markers.
The thread — Leviticus 22:25 explicitly forbids foreigners from presenting consecrated food to God. Jeremiah 4:4 and Jeremiah 9:26 later extend the physical rite of circumcision to a demand for internal spiritual reality and list nations defined by their uncircumcised state.
Why it lands — The text demands that worshipers examine whether their outward religious participation matches their inward covenant commitment. It requires readers to reject ritual substitution and pursue genuine obedience before approaching God.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 22:25 Neither you nor a foreigner shall present food to your God from any such animal. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and flawed.’”
- Jeremiah 9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
- Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”
- Genesis 17:14 But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
- Leviticus 26:41 and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,
- Ezekiel 44:9 This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter My sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites.
- Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.
- Malachi 1:12 “But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’
- Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Acts 21:28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”