Ezekiel 8:14

Old Testament Major Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Ezekiel 8:14 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah`s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah`s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.
Ezekiel 8:14 — American Standard Version

Context — Ezekiel 8

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah`s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house, which [was] towards the north, &c.] By “the Lord’s house” no doubt is meant the temple, which the Targum here calls the house of the sanctuary of the Lord; that gate of the temple (for the temple had several gates) which was to the north was the gate called Teri or Tedi, and was very little usedf118. In this part of the temple were the sacrifices offered; and therefore it was the greater abomination to commit idolatry where the Lord was more solemnly worshipped: and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz: they were not in the court of the women, where they should have been; but at the northern gate, near the place of…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“From the secret abominations of the chambers of imagery, the prophet's eye is turned to the outer court at the north door; within the outer court women were not admitted, but only to the door. sat--the attitude of mourners (Job 2:13; Isa 3:26). Tammuz--from a Hebrew root, "to melt down." Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol. Tammuz (the Syrian for Adonis), the paramour of Venus, and of the same name as the river flowing from Lebanon; killed by a wild boar, and, according to the fable, permitted to spend half the year on earth, and obliged to spend the other half in the lower world. An annual feast was celebrated to him in June (hence called Tammuz in the Jewish…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“The seer is now brought back to the same gate as in Ezekiel 8:3. It is not certain that this verse refers to any special act of Tammuz-worship. The month in which the vision was seen, the sixth month (September), was not the month of the Tammuz-rites. But that such rites had been performed in Jerusalem there can be little doubt. Women are mentioned as employed in the service of idols in Jeremiah 7:18. There is some reason for believing that the weeping of women for Tammuz passed into Syria and Palestine from Babylonia, Tammuz being identified with Duv-zi, whose loss was lamented by the goddess Istar. The festival was identical with the Greek “Adoniacs.” The worship of Adonis had its…”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“The door - Of the outer court, or court of the women, so called, because they were allowed to come into it. Weeping - Performing all the lewd and beastly rites of that idol, called by the Greeks, Adonis. Ezekiel 8:15”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · Modern study notes
“8:14-15 The third abomination was that women were . . . weeping for the god Tammuz at the north gate of the Lord’s Temple. This Babylonian ritual marked the death and descent into the underworld of the god Dumuzi (Tammuz). Every year, this deity was thought to lose his power and then regain it in a cycle that paralleled the annual rhythms of nature. Ritual mourning for Tammuz was intended to hasten the return of fertility to the natural order. Ritual lamentation for a false, dead god had thus been substituted for praise and worship of the true and living God.”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“toward: Eze 44:4, Eze 46:9 Ezekiel 8:15”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification