Ezekiel 8:13

Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses Ezekiel during a guided vision of the temple courts, immediately after revealing the elders' secret idol shrines. He interrupts the prophet's observation to announce a progression toward worse covenant violations.

The words — The Hebrew phrase תּוֹעֵבוֹת גְּדֹלוֹת (to'evot gedolot) literally translates to "great abominations." This compound denotes cultic practices that actively defile the sanctuary and violate covenant boundaries.

The thread — The same structural marker appears in Ezekiel 8:6 and Ezekiel 8:15, which bookend the vision with identical phrasing about escalating idolatry. Jeremiah 9:3 parallels the concept by describing a community that systematically "proceeds from evil to evil."

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that divine forbearance does not halt the momentum of deliberate sin. It demands confrontation with the reality that hidden rebellion inevitably intensifies and remains fully accounted for.

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

וַיֹּ֖אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he said אֵלָ֑י'e.La/ito/ me ע֣וֹדodagain תָּשׁ֥וּבta.Shuvyou will return תִּרְאֶ֛הtir.'Ehyou will see תּוֹעֵב֥וֹתto.'e.Votabominations גְּדֹל֖וֹתge.do.Lotgreat אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-which הֵ֥מָּהHe.mahthey עֹשִֽׂים׃'o.Sim[are] doing

King James Version

He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

Cross-references

Ezekiel 8:6 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”
Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
Ezekiel 8:15 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”
2 Timothy 3:13 while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.